The writer is international policy director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and special adviser to the European Commission
Utility companies are currently facing “code red”. Last week, reports of overstressed power grids made headlines in the US, UK and the Netherlands. New technologies such as crypto mining and artificial intelligence are contributing significantly to higher electricity demands. Hundreds of data centres are in the pipeline, their permits granted and on the way to being operational. But even as capacity grows, governments need to step up to map and reduce the use of natural resources by tech companies.
The global uptake of generative AI means energy use is growing as exponentially as the technology’s capabilities. AI is now expected to consume 10 times more power by 2026 than it did last year; a search on OpenAI’s ChatGPT already requires about 10 times as much electricity as one on Google. But the lack of standardised metrics and the continuing opacity around resource disclosures by companies blights attempts to come up with policies to tackle the crisis.