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The multifaceted challenge of powering AI | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Artificial intelligence has become vital in business and financial dealings, medical care, technology development, research, and much more. Without realizing it, consumers rely on AI when they stream a video, do online banking, or perform an online search. Behind these capabilities are more than 10,000 data centers globally, each one a huge warehouse containing thousands of computer servers and other infrastructure for storing, managing, and processing data. There are now over 5,000 data centers in the United States, and new ones are being built every day — in the U.S. and worldwide. Often dozens are clustered together right near where people live, attracted by policies that provide tax breaks and other incentives, and by what looks like abundant electricity. And data centers do consume huge amounts of electricity. U.S. data centers consumed more than 4 percent of the country’s total electricity in 2023, and by 2030 that fraction could rise to 9 percent, according to the Electric Power

Providing electricity to power-hungry data centers is stressing grids, raising prices for consumers, and slowing the transition to clean energy. Nancy W. Stauffer | MIT Energy Initiative Publication Date : January 21, 2025 Press Inquiries Press Contact : Kelley Travers Email: ktravers@mit.edu Phone: 617-715-5279 MIT Energy Initiative Close Caption : There are now over 5,000 data centers in the United States, like this one in northern Virginia, and new ones are being built every day. Credits : Photo: Gerville/iStock Previous image Next image Artificial intelligence has become vital in business

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