Sam Altman is someone who knows what it’s like to be surrounded by controversy. In fact, throughout his career at the head of OpenAI (creators of ChatGPT) he has had quite a few behind him. After all, he is one of the main figures in everything that concerns artificial intelligence, already a technology that provokes expectations and controversy in equal parts.
but now The CEO of the North American company has touched on a particularly sensitive topic for many: energy consumption. Or in other words, the environmental impact that generating and training AI systems has everywhere. Altman has compared the situation of AI with humans themselves, making an analogy that not everyone liked.
Sam Altman and the environmental impact of AI
For several years now, AI has been the protagonist of yet another controversy, of the many that have to do with it, from massive job losses to the end of humanity, nothing more and nothing less. Of course, Sam Altman also has something to say about the environmental impact surrounding AI centers. His statements have generated a great debate.
The bottom line is that training large models requires huge facilities, equipped with thousands of specialized chips that operate day and night. These sites consume electricity in considerable quantities and also require cooling systems that involve significant use of water. That is, they demand a lot of energy.
According to Altman, «humans consume as much energy as AI.» And the CEO of OpenAI has put it in context. From food to education, to the social and economic infrastructure that sustains a life for decades, accumulated consumption is immense. What he says, strictly speaking, is true. The comparison, unfortunate.
What the businessman seems to want to say, beyond his words, is clear: human civilization needs energy to advance. It has always been like this. Therefore, the important thing should not be how much artificial intelligence consumes, but what benefits it achieves for people and how – according to him – it will improve the quality of life of almost everyone. A subjective perspective, of course.
A controversy that grows as much as technology
Critical voices have not been slow to respond to Sam Altman, as expected and reported in media such as Gizmondo. For many, A human being is not a unit of consumption, but a subject, with all that that entails.. Its existence, therefore, cannot fall into the error of measuring itself by metrics without ignoring, for example, biological needs, or its rights.
Altman, however, sweeps home and even assures that AI could optimize energy processes in the future. But once again, promises are one thing (there are quite a few) and reality is another. There is not much of the utopian life exposed by him, its drawbacks, however, are there, and you only need eyes to see them.