Why the AI Revolution Will Require Massive Energy Resources

ByRachel Lomasky

This week, Lynne Kiesling (Director of the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics at Northwestern Pritzker’s Center on Law, Business, and Economics; Research Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver) and I discuss the ways in which the rapid rise of generative AI has triggered a sharp escalation in data center electricity consumption, with profound implications for national energy use, system planning, and climate goals.

The article is in Civitas Outlook, the online journal of the Civitas Institute at UT Austin, which publishes original writing about the ideas that create flourishing societies. You can read it at: https://www.civitasinstitute.org/research/why-the-ai-revolution-will-require-massive-energy-resources

Chief Data Scientist

Rachel Lomasky is the Chief Data Scientist at Flux, where she continuously identifies and operationalizes AI so Flux users can understand their codebases. In addition to a PhD in Computer Science, Rachel applies her 15+ years of professional experience to augment generative AI with classic machine learning. She regularly organizes and speaks at AI conferences internationally - keep up with her at her LinkedIn here.

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