Musk discusses the AI industry: Power shortage is imminent, and developing clean energy generation is a way out.

Published: Mar 12, 2024 21:53 (GMT+8)
Source: SMM
Elon Musk believes that technological progress in the fields of artificial intelligence and electric vehicles is moving at an unprecedented rate. He warns that while chip shortages may be a thing of the past, there may be a power supply shortage next year due to the rapid expansion of AI and electric vehicles. Musk emphasizes the urgent need for increased clean energy generation to meet the demands of these technologies and calls for the production of more transformers. He also hinted at Tesla's next steps in the field of electric vehicles, including self-driving cars and humanoid robots.

"I have never seen any technological progress faster than this," is Elon Musk's assessment of artificial intelligence and electric cars. While chip shortages may be a thing of the past, with the rapid expansion of AI and electric vehicles, the world may face a power supply shortage next year. Musk recently stated, "I believe we are really on the edge of what is possibly the biggest technological revolution ever... We live in the most interesting times." Musk also discussed his company's self-driving cars and humanoid robots, hinting at Tesla's next steps in the field of electric vehicles. Musk mentioned, "AI computing seems to be growing at 10 times the speed every six months. It's obvious that it cannot continue at this high speed forever, otherwise it will exceed the global total, but I have never seen a situation like this. This wave of enthusiasm is even bigger than any previous 'gold rush'." With the continuously expanding AI infrastructure, challenges also arise. Musk pointed out the limitations of AI computing resources. "The limitations of AI computing are very predictable... a year ago, the shortage was in chips, neural network chips. So, it is easy to predict that the next shortage will be in power infrastructure (such as transformers). You have to provide energy to these things." Musk predicts that there will be a power shortage in the next few years to meet the demands of AI and electric cars. He warned that the synchronous development of these technologies will put pressure on existing power infrastructure, and by 2025, the power supply may not be sufficient to power the increasing number of AI chips. Data confirms Musk's concerns. According to The New Yorker magazine, it is estimated that OpenAI's generative AI - ChatGPT - consumes more than 500,000 kilowatt-hours per day to respond to about 200 million user requests every day. This is more than 17,000 times the average daily energy consumption of an American household. Analysis suggests that the various innovations brought by generative AI come at a high cost in terms of energy consumption. Musk's remarks ultimately emphasized the urgent need to increase clean energy generation to meet the demands of AI and electric vehicles. This is also the most clear signal Musk wants to send to the industry: continue to develop clean energy generation and produce as many transformers as possible.

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