02/07/2025

DeepSeek Won't Solve AI's Climate Problem

However, this might

When Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek announced a chatbot that matched the performance of cutting-edge models such as ChatGPT with a fraction of the computing power, it sparked a glimmer of hope that AI might be less of an energy hog than people had feared.

But making AI cheaper and more efficient could just prompt people to use more AI, meaning data centers will still wind up using a lot more electricity, according to computer scientists, energy experts and tech investors.

“People ask, ‘Can we just forget about this? Is AI still an energy problem?’” said Vijay Gadepally, a senior scientist at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory who studies ways to make AI more sustainable. “The answer is a resounding, ‘Yes, it is.’”

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.