Sam Altman sparks debate claiming AI energy efficiency comparisons ignore human evolution costs

Sam Altman would like remind you that humans use a lot of energy, too | TechCrunch

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed concerns about AI's environmental impact this week while speaking at an event hosted by The Indian Express. For one thing, Altman -- who was in India for a major AI summit -- said concerns about AI's water usage are "totally fake," though he acknowledged it was a real issue when "we used to do evaporative cooling in data centers." "Now that we don't do that, you see these things on the internet where, 'Don't use ChatGPT, it's 17 gallons of water for each query' or whatever," Altman said. "This is completely untrue, totally insane, no connection to reality." He added that it's "fair" to be concerned about "the energy consumption -- not per query, but in total, because the world is now using so much AI." In his view, this means the world needs to "move towards nuclear or wind and solar very quickly." There's no legal requirement for tech companies to disclose how much energy and water they use, so scientists have been trying to study it independently. Data centers have also been connected to rising electricity prices. Citing a previous conversation with Bill Gates, the interviewer asked whether it's accurate to say a single ChatGPT query currently uses the equivalent of 1.5 iPhone battery charges, to which Altman replied, "There's no way it's anything close to that much." Altman also complained that many discussions about ChatGPT's energy usage are "unfair," especially when they focus on "how much energy it takes to train an AI model, relative to how much it costs a human to do one inference query." "But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human," Altman said. "It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart. And not only that, it took the very widespread evolution of the 100 billion people that have ever lived and learned not to get eaten by predators and learned how to figure out science and whatever, to produce you." So in his view, the fair comparison is, "If you ask ChatGPT a question, how much energy does it take once its model is trained to answer that question versus a human? And probably, AI has already caught up on an energy efficiency basis, measured that way." You can watch the full interview below. The conversation about water and energy usage begins at around 26:35.

AI energy efficiency comparisons 'unfair' bleats Sam Altman, citing amount of energy needed to evolve, then train a human -- one 'takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart' he argues

'AI has already caught up... measured that way' asserts the AI mogul. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took part in a wide ranging Q&A on Friday, answering dozens of rapid-fire questions during a 60 minute session hosted by The Indian Express. Not for the first time, Altman stoked controversy. This time, he bemoaned "unfair" comparisons between the efficiency of AI inference queries and human thought. In Altman's view the comparison is skewed as humans have millennia of evolutionary smarts and technology teachings behind them, yet individuals require "like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart." Chief Nerd clipped the eyebrow-raising Q&A segment for convenient sharing. In the above video segment, the AI business torchbearer begins by stating "One of the things that is always unfair in this comparison is people talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model relative to how much it costs a human to do one inference query." But, according to Altman, it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. "It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart," the OpenAI CEO said to the assembled audience awaiting gems of wisdom. Moreover, Altman wants to roll in the "evolution of the hundred billion people," and humanity's progress to "not to get eaten by predators and learn how to like figure out science and whatever," into the equation. If we did that calculation, Altman appears to reason, "probably AI has already caught up on an energy efficiency basis... Measured that way." OpenAI tech also evolved - from the minds and technological feats of humans We see a few leaps in Altman's expanded-timeline human vs AI efficiency comparison logic, that need to be addressed. For example, shouldn't the AI computing world also roll in the prior 'energy cost' of human evolution, the Renaissance, and so on? Aliens didn't provide the blueprints for ENIAC. Some commentators have also argued that Altman is dehumanizing by reducing childhood, learning, and growth to their energy inputs. Others even wonder if Altman would prefer to see resources diverted from human to machine intelligence. However, beyond the confines of this Tweet clip, to give it more context and be fairer to the OpenAI boss, he also takes the time to push for more sustainable energy solutions. Tapping more into sustainable resources would take massive consumers like OpenAI a little more out of the firing line as scarce resource competitors, as folks' utility bills inch higher and higher. The above Q&A took place in the wake of Altman, and other AI high rollers, meeting with PM Narendra Modi during a highly publicized week that underscored India's importance as an AI growth engine. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.