Google search based on artificial intelligence uses 10 times more energy than traditional search

In May, Google introduced a major update to its search engine – Artificial Intelligence Reviews. And although this feature can produce some pretty strange or completely wrong results, the company is placing a lot of faith in artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence reviews offer users blocks with AI-generated results that should offer users an answer to any question without the need to go to different sites.

However, according to BoingBoing, this feature has other drawbacks besides incorrect answers. An artificial intelligence review consumes many times more energy than a regular search query.

According to Alex de Vries, founder of the research company Digiconomist, one result from artificial intelligence consumes about 3 W⋅h, which is 10 times more than a regular search result.

Fries estimates that AI-generated answers to all Google searches can consume as much energy as the entire country of Ireland.

In addition, a large amount of water is also used to cool the servers that process AI queries. Only a few operators report on water use, although a fifth of servers consume water from “moderate to high load catchments.”