Elon Musk predicts the next global crisis
The 54-year-old owner of X and Tesla warns about the increase in electricity consumption due to AI and electric cars.
Elon Musk, billionaire owner of the social network X, Tesla and SpaceX is the most followed person on the platform he owns, ahead of figures such as Barack Obama or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Musk is well known for expressing his opinions on various topics. For example, after the pandemic, he criticized remote work, stating that he thought it was “morally wrong” since service workers still had to go in person.
Although he sometimes makes controversial statements, at times the South African born addresses issues in a more serious capacity and his latest concern stems from the increasing energy consumption occurring across the planet. From his perspective, Musk asserts that an electricity crisis is looming if measures aren’t taken to prevent it. He believes that the use of nuclear energy should begin to be supported.
According to the 54-year-old, this crisis arises because artificial intelligence is being integrated by large companies into every possible software tool and device to make users’ lives easier. What is not always mentioned is that using artificial intelligence requires a huge expenditure on resources. ChatGPT, in just 100 words, consumes approximately 519 milliliters of water. On a daily basis, this artificial intelligence receives around 25 billion requests. Therefore, the water and electricity expenditure incurred to respond to them is enormous.
For this reason, Musk claims that: “The simultaneous growth of all electric cars and AI, which require electricity and voltage transformers, is, in my opinion, generating a huge demand for electrical equipment and power generation.”
A few months ago, New Atlas compiled several statements from Musk in which he warned that the situation was precarious and that this energy expenditure due to the use of AI was going to cause the global electrical grid to suffer increasingly.
Meanwhile, more and more countries are turning to renewable energy to move away from fossil fuels, which endanger the environment and human health. However, Musk believes the best option is to use nuclear power plants, since nuclear energy can provide a constant supply of electricity, allowing for 24-hour operations without generating the same carbon footprint as fossil fuel plants. In fact, Google is already developing small modular reactors to power its data centers.
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