Archived: We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.

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Here’s the story you haven’t heard.</a></contexter-box-head></contexter-box-head><contexter-byline class="p-author author" slot="author"><span class="p-name byline" rel="author" itemprop="author">James O'Donnell</span></contexter-byline><time class="dt-published published" slot="time" itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2025-05-20T09:00:00.000Z">5/20/2025</time><contexter-summary class="p-summary entry-summary" itemprop="abstract" slot="summary"><p>The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small—until you add up what the industry isn’t tracking and consider where it’s heading next.</p></contexter-summary><contexter-keywordset itemprop="keywords" slot="keywords"><span rel="category tag" class="p-category" itemprop="keywords"></span></contexter-keywordset><a is="contexter-link" href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/" class="read-link main-link" itemprop="sameAs" slot="read-link">Read</a><a href="https://context.center/timegate/https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1116327/ai-energy-usage-climate-footprint-big-tech/" is="contexter-link" target="_blank" class="read-link archive-link" itemprop="archivedAt" slot="archive-link">Archived</a></contexter-box>

We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.

James O'Donnell

5/20/2025

The emissions from individual AI text, image, and video queries seem small—until you add up what the industry isn’t tracking and consider where it’s heading next.

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