AI Energy Use in Everyday Terms – By Marcel Salathé
a year ago
- #chatbot comparison
- #AI energy use
- #sustainability
- One year of regular chatbot use consumes less energy than driving a car for 10 kilometers, taking five hot showers, or filling two hot baths.
- A typical text-only interaction with a GPT-4-like chatbot consumes about 0.2 watt-hours (Wh) of energy.
- Assuming 100 interactions per day, this adds up to around 7.2 kilowatt-hours (kWh) over one year.
- A 10-kilometer car ride in a gasoline-powered car uses about 7.6 kWh of energy.
- A five-minute hot shower uses around 1.6 kWh of energy, so five showers total about 8 kWh.
- A hot bath consumes around 5.2 kWh per bath, meaning two baths exceed 10 kWh.
- AI energy use can vary significantly with larger models or specialized tasks, but typical chatbot interactions are relatively low-energy.
- Data centers also consume significant amounts of water for cooling, adding to AI's resource footprint.
- Some studies suggest chatbot energy use could be more than 10 times higher, and ongoing model training is not included in these estimates.