Georgia Power says you could use three times as much electricity thanks to AI – WSB-TV Channel 2

ATLANTA – A report from Georgia Power says the growing number of data centers could cause electricity demand across the state to rise much more than previously thought.

Channel 2’s Michael Doudna I reviewed the report and learned that energy demand could triple by the mid-2030s. At least 20 data centers will be built at the same time.

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“When you deploy thousands of machines, say 10,000 computers, things get hot,” said Emory professor Rajiv Garg. “They need cooling power, they need computing power.”

An important reason for the increase in data centers is the increasing use of artificial intelligence. The new technology requires more power because, according to Garg, just one Chat GPT search uses the same energy as ten Google searches.

“AI will be phenomenal, but we also need to learn to use AI efficiently,” Garg said.

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To meet demand, Georgia Power and other electric companies must meet supply. However, both Georgia Power and Garg say prices are not expected to continue rising once production is increased, despite increased demand.

“The price will eventually reach that equilibrium point again,” Garg said.

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