EP3 : The Energy Gobbler

Artificial Intelligence and cost-cutting have led to tech layoffs surging by 136 per cent in 2024. That’s the job-gobbler we are not just looking at but feeding. How painful is the upskilling process likely to be? Will traditional skills be completely replaced by AI prompts?

Pirated books, videos, music compositions, images and all other forms of intellectual property are being used as inputs for computer programmes that are changing how we read, visualise, learn, compute, and communicate. The future promised by AI is being created with stolen words, and visuals. How deep will be the ramifications of the intellectual property gobbler on society?

The carbon emissions that resulted from training GPT-3 were as high as 502 metric tonnes. That’s equal to driving 112 petrol powered cars for one year. OR driving 1 passenger vehicle for 2 million kilometers. The amount of fresh water that went into cooling the systems that processed this training was 700,000 litres. We take a closer look at the huge carbon footprint that Ai leaves behind.