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Artificial intelligence training is powered mostly by fossil fuels

Most AI training relies on electrical grids primarily powered by coal and gas rather than low-carbon sources, according to an analysis of 95 AIs

By Jeremy Hsu

28 February 2023

power station

Training AIs can use a significant amount of power

Shutterstock/VanderWolf Images

Artificial intelligence training is powered mostly by fossil fuels, according to one of the largest studies of its kind. Less than 25 per cent of AIs use low-carbon energy sources such as hydroelectricity and nuclear power during training.

“People see AI to be this intangible thing that lives in the cloud,” says Sasha Luccioni at Hugging Face, a company that develops tools for sharing AI code and data sets. “But behind AI models, there are layers and layers of hardware and tech, all of which have an impact…

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