Cheaper AI Models May Strain Power Grid, Consulting Firms Say - Business Insider
Cheaper AI Models May Strain Power Grid, Consulting Firms Say - Business Insider
摘要: Consulting firms say that as AI gets cheaper, power demand could keep climbing
Lakshmi Varanasi
You're currently following this author!
正文
Consulting firms say that as AI gets cheaper, power demand could keep climbing
Lakshmi Varanasi
You're currently following this author!
Click to unsubscribe from email alerts.
AI costs are falling, and the pressure on demand is rising.
BackyardProduction/Getty Images
2026-10-03T09:59:01.238Z
Read in app
Copy link
lighning bolt icon
An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Impact Link
Listen to this story
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider
subscribers.
Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account?
.
AI is getting cheaper to use, but as companies use it more, we're bound to see more
pressure on the electric grid
.
In two new reports published this week, McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group said that as companies move beyond experimenting with chatbots and start using AI across more parts of their businesses, cheaper models and falling token prices could make it easier to justify more frequent, higher-volume AI use — and that could pose a problem for the grid.
Companies often pay AI providers based on tokens, the small units of text that models read and generate. In the short term, McKinsey said that cheaper tokens could make AI more widely used and raise electricity demand, while companies push to make models, chips, and data centers more efficient.
That matters because
data centers
are already using more power. McKinsey called data-center electricity demand “the fastest-growing load segment in OECD power markets.” In several markets, it said, data centers are already the biggest reason electricity demand is expected to grow through 2030. The firm expects global data-center electricity demand to grow by 24% a year through 2030, then slow to 5% a year between 2030 and 2040.
Even as companies scale their use of AI, BCG found that the companies getting furthest with the technology are not simply letting token spending ris