The Hidden Energy Crisis Behind Artificial Intelligence

0:02Darin Olien:Welcome to Super Life with me, Darin Olien, a podcast where we explore, discover, and share solutions that promote a healthier life and a better world. Together, we'll ignite possibilities, inspire change, and build sovereignty, creating a roadmap towards a super life for you and for all. Get ready to start living your super life.

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2:55Darin Olien:And with a 100-day risk-free trial, free shipping and returns, you can experience this game-changing cookware with zero risk. Come on, who wouldn't want to do that? Hey everybody, welcome to the show. This is Darren O 'Lean. This is the Super Life Podcast. That's right, Super Life. I want a super life. I want you to have a super life. I want us as a global family to have a super life. That's why I do this show and I'm excited. I got some Patreon stuff that I'm going to be launching soon and I am excited to let you know that. I'm going to jump ship on some other platforms so that I can give you the best possible information for you to gather and garner your super life.

3:41Darin Olien:More to come on that. Today, I'm going to dive into something very interesting. What if I told you that the digital revolution, we're all cheering on the explosion of AI, automation, machine learning could silently be the most energy hungry transformation we have ever created by a lot. Welcome back to the Super Life Podcast. I'm Darren O 'Lean. Like I said, today, we're peeling back the shiny futuristic surface of AI, artificial intelligence, to look at what's powering it all and whether we're going to be building a smarter world at the expense of a livable one. These are the things I contemplate.

4:29Believe me, we're going to end on a positive note. So bear with me.

4:33Darin Olien:This is the Wild West and the technocratic race for AI, for living our lives digitally. This episode isn't about fear. It's about awareness. And believe me, I'm going to personally share with you some insight into my optimism around this and many other things in the world. So stay tuned for that. This is about making sure we are asking hard questions also before it's too late because as we know many systems that we have around us are largely imploding systems meaning that they're they're essentially geared to fail and what i mean by that is they have tales of side effects so if you make a t-shirt out of petroleum which all your t-shirts are unless you're getting organic hemp or linen or cotton without artificial dyes they have 8 000 chemicals literally they are manufactured around the world spewing pollution into our environment our water our food and the rivers ultimately go into the ocean so what i mean by that is that's an imploding system that has detrimental effects it's not regenerative so when I'm asking questions about AI, where we're going, I use AI.

6:00It's really convenient. I don't even Google search anything anymore. And I saw that coming. But there's a heavy, heavy, heavy energy load on our system. And sitting here in California, at the heat of the summer, they do rolling blackouts because we don't even have enough power to literally respond to normal living today right

6:28Darin Olien:now that's why we're going to dive into a little of the energy load of ai so what are some of these hidden costs let's get a little more specific with that without nerding out too much so we can really understand the scale and the intensity of this stuff the energy that powers ai comes from Listen to me. Comes from physical infrastructure. Physical infrastructure. Data centers. Massive, massive data centers around the world filled with processors. Same with Bitcoin, right? And they're running around the clock using huge amounts of energy, creating huge amounts of heat. These facilities need constant cooling, uninterrupted backup, and uninterrupted power just to keep those going so you can conveniently use your AI.

7:21And this is high-density computing software, physical stuff on physical land. So training a single large AI model like a chat GPT, something similar, can consume 1 ,287 megawatts of hours of electricity. So just training a single chat GPT or something uses 1 ,287 megawatts of hours of electricity. that's about 120 u.s homes power for the year that gives you a sense data centers globally used about 460 terawatt hours of electricity in 2022 that's two percent of the global electricity just in the data centers by 2030 this could double to 945 terawatt hours that is 945 trillion hours of electricity the entire japanese electricity use per year an ai video generation like a text to video tool can use enough energy in five seconds to run a microwave for an hour.

8:50That's what we're dealing with. So I just want to create this context. So think of AI and always on never resting industrial engine. So I want you to think of AI as behind it is a massive generator needing to be used always constantly producing energy and it's not just electricity you have to cool the ai because when you are providing machines with electricity that creates heat all of the ai centers require massive water cooling so now we have a water issue did you Think about that. Hundreds of thousands of liters of water. Training one large model can consume 700 ,000 liters of clean water. Not to mention the pollution.

9:51There's 500 metric tons of CO2 that gets released as a result of it. Now listen, I understand biology in the sense of the ecological systems release CO2, or we release CO2 as humans and animals around the world, the plants, the green materials, the trees draw down, and healthy soils draw down the CO2. But we are massively imbalanced with producing so much of the CO2 that is unsustainable from an ecological system. So what's causing this spike? It's because more people are using AI every day. Larger, more complex models and more layers are happening every day, every second. It's the AI running 24-7 for real-time services for this growing number of people.

10:56These numbers aren't abstract they have very real consequences this kind of energy consumption could power entire communities so there is a kind of a line here there's a moral ethical line very real it could be used to create water desalination of water all of that energy could create fresh water now there's an issue with desalination at massive scale because they put that brine back into the ocean and then it changes the pH of the ocean, which also kills the ocean. So that aside, but I'm just using this as an example, desalination uses a huge amount of power to get a resource that's required in the world, fresh water.

11:42And all of this energy could grow food. It could create food, better food systems, better water usage, better systems that are also imploding systems so we could divert energy and time to producing better food around the world producing better shelter around the world producing clean water around the world and and you know there's a few billion people on the planet that still don't have access to that basic level of need and then we're spending all of this time and money and energy on ai systems so the question is where do we want our energy to go? And it's not necessarily one or the other. It can be done, but we have to be very careful.

12:31Let's start with this image. MIT researchers found that generating just few seconds of AI video can use the same electricity running your microwave for an hour, Now multiply that by millions of video images and AI generated media pieces being created every day. The International Energy Agency estimates that by 2030, data centers will consume around 945 terawatt hours of electricity per year. Like I said. So this isn't software. This is an industrial situation. This is an industrial forced model. And it's growing faster and faster. And our energy needs are not even met yet around this world. Even in the United States.

13:29Even here in California.

13:31Darin Olien:I want to take a quick break here in this episode and thank my other sponsors. By 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. over 500 toothpaste tubes have been thrown away since i've started this ad you don't think of these small little things but they add up a lot over time and we can do something about it that ends up to be over a billion plastic toothpaste tubes a year alone that ultimately end up in our environment and in our waterways and ultimately ends up in the ocean do you want to add to this or do you want to do something different? Plus, maybe that exposure to that plastic, getting the plasticizers and the endocrine disruptors and then putting that toothpaste in your mouth also is not a good idea.

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15:09Darin Olien:You're helping you by putting clean products in your mouth, and you're helping the environment because Bite Toothpaste is one of the best companies I've seen looking at all aspects of their supply chain and their refillable, reusable, sustainable, regenerative practices. So Bite is offering you, all my listeners, 20 % off your first order. Go to trybite.com, T-R-Y-B-I-T-E forward slash Darren20 or just use the promo code Darren20, D-A-R-I-N, and you can get 20 % off your first order with a great new toothpaste without using the tube. So because this energy isn't coming from nowhere, in places like, for example, in Pennsylvania, a single data center project are drawing as much electricity as a small city.

16:05Local energy grids are already maxed out. And the people paying the price, you, me, our communities, our electric bills, and okay, maybe I can handle 20-30 % of an increase of electricity, but the lower income people, the people that are already suffering, they can't. So we don't see that, but it's affected. It's a very real situation. These electric bills are rising. The infrastructure is strained and strained even more. And this isn't isolated. This is global now. And while all of this is happening, we still have communities, millions and millions of people who don't have access to clean drinking water.

16:51They don't have access to growing good food and getting it. They're under stress already. And this environmental stress is only more and more tense because these AI things are very real situations that are occurring in our resources. So are we okay with funneling billions and billions of dollars into intelligent machines while humans still remain hungry, sick, and disconnected from a way of living? And please don't get me wrong that the AI has a massive potential for good. Everything is how you use it. It can help solve problems. It can definitely help solve world problems. If we build it right, we can solve these problems.

17:49But right now, it's mostly because big tech is growing bigger and bigger and bigger. So is there another way? Here's where it gets hopeful. The same pressure that's exposing the cracks of our current energy systems today could be the catalyst for something even better. a true energy revolution. I happen to know people in the truly clean energy space way beyond solar farms or big wind turbines, way beyond that. There is developments today that will blow your mind that I have seen myself physically with clean energy at an infinite amount of scalability. I personally know this through personal friends.

18:39So if we do this right, the pressure of the energy needed for things like data storage, Bitcoin, AI, that pressure of the energy need can lead to expansion and adoption of truly clean energy adoption. Clean energy use is here today. We are carefully walking the line to not raise attention, not do a bunch of social media about this technology, but getting it to real situations, real communities around the globe. That is the hope. That is what's happening. Friends of mine have been contacted by governments all over the world because they are currently under this duress. And it's opening up the world more and more of energy needs.

19:38So if I said, if someone's paying, say, 20 cents per kilowatt hour of power, call it Tesla, call it Google, call it the government. And we came in and said, we can give you that power, a clean power, infinite source at five cents a kilowatt hour. And it's also not burning gross fuels, polluting the environment. Does it matter what it is? Not if it's ethically, morally proven. That is the adoption that is upon us and is coming up today. We have the ability to produce power. We just need to scale it. And that is happening. So that is the excitement I have because I happen to be committed to a super life, to a global super life, to you having a super life.

20:36And I have friends that I've known for 20 years, absolutely committed, and their egos are in check, and their morals are in check, and they're doing it right. There are people in this world that you don't see on social media, that you don't see on CNN talking about this stuff, but they're the real people doing the real work. And so I know without a doubt that this is happening. So when I look at the old systems, the old systems maybe putting fuel in your car and the old systems of producing power, And yes, these systems, they're demanding more hydropower, but then you have to dam rivers and you have to do all of this stuff.

21:21Those things are also being strained and they won't match the energy needs of the world in which we're racing towards right now. So AI data centers are being looked at on solar and thermal and air and water efficiencies and cooling operations. All of that's happening. At a certain point, we just need energy. And that's where we're going. AI is, the train is out of the station and we are sprinting towards this. And so there is pressure to produce energy. And that pressure to produce energy is creating the opportunity for more clean energy innovation. It is happening. I guarantee it because I know it and I have seen it.

22:09So we need to, as a global, and I need you to know that hope, and I want to share that, and that's why I'm sharing this hope with you. But we want to continue to support clean energy innovation. We want to demand investment into more and more clean energy tech and allow for the next generation to put resources into that revolution. And I believe it's happening. We need to hold big tech accountable. Just because they can buy up huge swaths of land around this globe doesn't mean they should. Just because they can buy a country and control the amount of energy they're taking from it doesn't mean they should.

22:53They should have percentages of their money that they're getting to put into truly clean innovation. So when you use AI, it does matter. Let's not just make life faster. Let's truly make life better for everyone. We can do this. This is not a utopian idea that is new, but this with the right people, with the egos in check, with the heart-centered approach, and you can still make money and you can still have a free capitalistic economy doing good in the private sector and we can create solutions. Yes, we can push for policies that allow this to open up even more. We can improve infrastructure upgrades that serve humans, not just exploit them and not just serve machines.

23:49We need to stay informed, stay curious, reach out to friends and family and stay committed to this because I know without a doubt, staying committed to this has allowed me to create TV shows and to create podcasts and to write books and find my tribe of people that are truly doing good. I've been scammed. I've been scammed. I've put money into things and people turned out to be bullshit. I have lost hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. And now through that pain, through that suffering, through that learning, I now have tribes of friends, colleagues, and businesses that I know are doing the right thing, and they're doing it in a global way.

24:38The future isn't being built by machines. It will never be. We can be assisted by them, but there is physical infrastructure to all of this stuff. This is not being built by machines from this other side. It's being built by our choices. We are making the machines first or making people first. We can build AI into a force for environmental sovereignty of people freedom and environmental protection, restoration. We can build and use infrastructure and AI for social justice, social change, global wellness. We can really fill the gaps between progress and purpose with the right use of the tools. That's why I do this podcast.

25:30That's why I'm going to be doing my Patreon. That's why I stand for a super life because we don't look at this stuff. If we don't look at these questions, I could have this podcast on the food system. I could do this podcast on the health system. All of them are imploding systems, systems that are built to fail, but people keep doubling down on it and they have this cascade of negative side effects, but we can change that. Let's build all of it together consciously. continuously use the tools for the good with awareness integrity and keeping our soul not divorcing our soul to a machine we can build a super life i want you to be aware of this stuff i don't want you to be depressed about it i am more optimistic even after a meeting i just had on sunday mind-boggling mind-blowing i am more optimistic about our future than ever even in the face of what is coming at us in social media and all this crazy shit that is blasted at us every day.

26:41Stop the scrolling of getting your information from there. Get your information first from your heart, your soul. What are you committed to? What do you want to create in the world? What do you want to contribute to as a family, as a community, as a global view of your values, your ethics. Get attuned and aligned with that and come with me as we build a super life. Not everyone will

27:08Darin Olien:want a super life. That's okay. But if you want it, let's go. I love you all. Peace.