Have we asked AI to solve the energy problem?
Oh look, let’s give these AI companies some credit for KNOWING the issues that some posters think are some gotcha moments. I guess fall back to the AGI argument, or AI isn’t profitable.
AI in military? Why not.
This solves an energy reliability problem, but not the energy cost one; they still have to deal with sourcing and spending the material, which won’t be cheap. It’s also another massive capital investment.
I really don’t see how the costs here wind up being tenable, especially in a competitive market.
You mean those dummies at Google don’t have financial analysts on staff? They don’t have a good track record of doing things profitability, right?
Google has projects fail all the time, as does every big tech company. Remember Google Glass? How’s your Google+ follower count looking?
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Well… I agree yes. However, I will contrast.
- Tech companies (unlike energy companies) have balance sheets largely derivative of a product complete separate from energy (iPhones, Google Search, Facebook, etc etc). Therefore, they have the means of spending capital whereas an oil and gas company cannot voluntarily invest in an energy source that replaces its own product
- Tech companies will still need subsidies to invest in Nuclear, even just SMR’s, which are still unscalable.
Lack of scale = incredibly expensive
I alluded to this above - Are Americans willing to aid tech companies to build power Data Centers (thus further building AI Technology) that will ultimately take American jobs?
It’s this very strange dynamic
I would also argue that the majority of people using ChatGPT have really no detailed understanding of the actual costs/technology behind it
All the time? If that were true, they’d be out of business. These guys have a pretty good track record of monetizing infant technology. But I guess that’s not good enough for the anti AI crowd? I mean they’re only the 5th most valuable company in the world. They obviously don’t know what they’re doing.
I don’t get this BS about energy cost, and end users not understanding, who gives a crap about all that. No one is going to give stuff out free, all businesses need to make money to survive. You don’t think they’ll figure out a way to charge for AI services that includes all the costs to serve it? And end users will only care that it works. Do you think the users for SAP clients care about how it works? It’s the same false logic the anti EV crowd uses.
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That’s not true at all. A big win (AWS, Apple Silicon, Google Ad Services, etc.) can make up for tons of failed projects that never see the light of day.
As a similar example, Google, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft have all made substantial investments in the AR/VR space, too. Things like Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens, Apple Vision Pro, and Ray Ban + Meta have been sold as the future of computing for a decade or more. They’re all technically-impressive pieces of equipment, all sold as revolutionary, and none of them have seen basically any substantial use except as a toy for people with money to throw away.
If the accounting teams at these companies are infallible, how did that happen?
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That might be one way to push for more nuclear energy, by necessity.
Many oil & gas companies already voluntarily invest in renewables and nuclear energy to various degrees. So yes, they can make those investments. Why wouldn’t or couldn’t they invest further if there are profits to be made?
Really, look at GE who no longer does lightbulbs, Nokia no longer is a wood mill, 3M has gone way beyond adhesives, IBM & DuPont also had major shifts in their products in their lifetimes. There’s no reason the big oil companies like Chevron, BP, Shell, etc. couldn’t do the same over time.
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Wow, agree with the approach, but it’s
10 years before the SMR(s) can be completed
for the 500 MW. Where is power for today
coming from ?
Google’s deal with Kairos Power is expected to reach its full 500 MW potential by 2035 and was the first-ever corporate deal to buy nuclear power from SMRs.
Not intending for this to be political.
That’s horrifying! No bueno 
Crucial first step in getting Skynet operational.
We have to do it to keep up with rogue, bad actor, nations.
This is how it all starts, or ends, depending on
your perspective.
Many have scaled back on investing in renewables
Power today comes from Natural Gas, and perhaps some coal.
If Tech companies foot the entire bill, then I guarantee this gets done in the set time frame.
The problem is if public money gets involved
TVA’s energy future
In addition to more methane gas plants, TVA plans to invest $1.5 billion in energy efficiency and demand response programs to reduce its total energy needs in the next few years. TVA also plans to add 10 gigawatts of solar power to its system and retire all coal by 2035. Further out, TVA may expand its nuclear fleet with small modular reactors.
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Maybe so but you acknowledge they are voluntarily investing in renewables when your previous statement was that they cannot do so (which was untrue).
For reference:
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