However, there’s a myriad of other considerations to take into account when calculating the energy use of complex AI queries, because it’s not just theoretical—the conditions under which queries are actually run out in the real world matter. Bashir points out that physical hardware makes ...
However, there’s a myriad of other considerations to take into account when calculating the energy use of complex AI queries, because it’s not just theoretical—the conditions under which queries are actually run out in the real world matter. Bashir points out that physical hardware makes a difference when calculating emissions.A growing body of research attempts to put a number on energy use and AI—even as the companies behind the most popular models keep their carbon emissions a secret.But experts say Altman’s figure doesn’t mean much without much more public context from OpenAI about how it arrived at this calculation—including the definition of what an “average” query is, whether or not it includes image generation, and whether or not Altman is including additional energy use, like from training AI models and cooling OpenAI’s servers.As a result of this lack of transparency, Luccioni says, the public is being exposed to estimates that make no sense but which are taken as gospel. You may have heard, for instance, that the average ChatGPT request takes 10 times as much energy as the average Google search.