Sam Altman compares AI and human energy use, Sridhar Vembu pushes back

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has argued that humans too consume a lot of energy amid criticism over the resources used by AI data centres. Here is how Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu responded.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is making things easier for us in a lot of ways. However, this comes at a cost, not only the cost of building AI infrastructure, but also running and maintaining it. However, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, believes that when compared to the energy consumed by a human, the consumption by AI data centres is not extreme.

But it seems that Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu does not agree with Altman’s perspective in this case. Here are the details.

Altman addressed concerns over the environmental impact of AI. The OpenAI chief insisted that even humans take a lot of energy and resources to become smart. He told The Indian Express, “People talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart."

Sam Altman claimed that if we compare the energy consumed by an AI that was already trained to handle specific queries, the figure may actually be less than what a human would need. Altman explained, “If you ask ChatGPT a question, how much energy does it take once its model is trained to answer that question versus a human? And probably, AI has already caught up on an energy efficiency basis, measured that way.”

In response to Altman's analogy, Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu offered a different perspective. The Zoho chief made it clear that technology shouldn’t be compared on the same level as human beings. He wrote on X, "I do not want to see a world where we equate a piece of technology to a human being.” Sridhar Vembu disagrees with Sam Altman over the comparison between human and AI energy use.

Vembu argued that we should not let technology dominate our lives. He said, “I work hard as a technologist to see a world where we don't allow technology to dominate our lives, instead it should quietly recede into the background."