The excessive consumption of resources is a situation that is getting worse and worse, while million of Americans cannot afford higher costs of electricity. However, water is especially precious, and the droughts we are experiencing are worrying. In this context, one expert has issued a serious warning: the next crisis will leave us without technology, and it will be even worse.
Water scarcity, a problem that we have now aggravated further
Fresh water is becoming increasingly scarce around the world. An estimated 4 billion people already suffer water shortages at least one month a year. However, a new challenge looms on the horizon: the growing demand for electricity to power artificial intelligence.
AI has experienced exponential growth in the last decade, and its computing capacity is expected to double every two years. But all this power requires an enormous amount of energy. If we don’t solve this energy challenge, our electricity supply will collapse.
Do you remember the drought experienced in the United States, especially in Texas or California? In the middle of 2024, we can almost compare it to what we are experiencing in Andalusia, Catalonia or on the island of Tenerife. However, the extent to which AI is having an impact has yet to be assessed.
Water scarcity is increasing due to population growth, but also because of the expansion of technology – with the growing and obvious need to cool microchips or conductors. However, there is an even more valuable resource that will be in short supply just when we need it most.
Artificial intelligence, a “resource guzzler,” says Elon Musk
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have experienced explosive growth in recent years. It is estimated that the amount of technological capacity used to train AI models has doubled every 3.4 months since 2012. Doesn’t that sound outrageous?
Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon invest billions in AI research. It is estimated that more than $60 billion was invested in AI startups in 2021. With all this momentum, AI can now perform previously unthinkable tasks, such as voice recognition.
However, perhaps we are overlooking something: how much electricity do we need to get all these developments up and running? The more powerful they are, the greater the demand they place, and we will not always be able to amortize it or guarantee it – remember what has happened across Europe with the war in Ukraine.
Elon Musk is clear: we are running out of technology, and we already know the year.
Elon Musk, the famous tech entrepreneur, has made several warnings about the risks posed by artificial intelligence to the future of humanity. Specifically, he has warned that the rapid growth and development of AI could have serious consequences by 2025.
According to Musk, the computing capacity that will be needed to run the most advanced AI systems will grow exponentially in the coming years. This will generate such a large demand for electricity that it could outstrip the world’s electricity generation capacity.
In fact, he went so far as to warn that by 2025 the demand for electricity from AI will be so high that it could “devour electricity and transformers.” The billionaire has expressed concern that he does not believe there is enough electrical infrastructure in the world to sustain the operation of advanced AI.
What is certain, at this point, is that not only will we run out of water, we will run out of electricity. Will we continue to rely on large-scale technology? Everything points to this being the case, in fact, even the White House is looking for new alternatives to overcome this crisis. We still don’t even know how to solve the semiconductor shortage.