It’s no secret that the world’s leading technology companies have failed to meet their targets for more sustainable operations over the past two years since offering a variety of generative artificial intelligence (AI) services. It’s also no secret that it not only consumes a lot of electricity but also requires a lot of water for cooling systems. With the popularity of generative AI increasing, MIT Technology Review published a report that said generating a 5-second video using generative AI uses the same energy as running a microwave oven for over an hour.
This is based on Code Carbon’s use of generative AI which is estimated to use 3.4 million joules to generate a 5-second video at 30 frames per second. This is also the same energy used to propel an electric bike 61 kilometers. The energy consumption of generative AI to generate videos will increase further with higher resolutions and frame rates in the future.
In the same article asking a chatbot 15 questions, generating 10 images with generative AI and generating 3 5-second videos is estimated to use 2.9 kWh of electricity, equivalent to running a microwave oven continuously for 3.5 hours.
What is troubling about this report is that all calculations are based on educated guesses and not actual figures because AI companies do not share the amount of electricity used by each model offered to customers.