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If the UK wants to keep up with the demands of AI services, it will need to invest in nuclear power to run its data centres, says Amazon boss Matt Garman.
The UK needs to invest in nuclear power if it wants to build AI infrastructure, Amazon Web Services boss Matt Garman has said to the BBC.
In order to operate AI, large data centres that require hefty amount of energy are needed. These are big spaces filled with super computers that power AI, data processing and streaming remotely. They’re used by many tech companies around the world for all sorts of products.
Just one of these computers can require as much energy as a small town, according to the BBC.
Matt Garman’s comments come as Amazon Web Services pledges £8 billion on new data centres in the UK over the next four years. He believes that nuclear power is a ‘great solution’ for the UK, as it’s an ‘excellent source of zero carbon, 24/7 energy.’
Data centres are a big deal in the UK. They currently consume 2.5% of all its electricity across 500 different warehouses, with predictions of a rise to 6% by 2030. By 2050, data centres are expected to use almost as much energy as all industrial processes today.
Amazon Web Services believes that 52% of businesses are currently using AI in their workflows, with a huge uptick in adoption across the country. Matt Garman believes this to be a positive, and says that AI will impact ‘almost every part of our lives.’
He is also reluctant to back any international regulation. ‘The technology is moving at such a rate that I don’t believe the knowledge of the folks building those regulations will be able to keep up,’ Matt Garman said.
The environmental footprint of AI products like ChatGPT has been contentious for several years.
In order to keep automated prompt-based technology running smoothly, huge amounts of water and electricity are required. Questions have been raised about the cost and severity of AI’s climate impact, with little in the way of resolutions as of yet.
In fact, the AI market is currently so competitive that many, many companies are trying to incorporate automation into their products wherever possible.
