back to article Bill Gates says not to worry about AI gobbling up energy, tech will adapt

Bill Gates says the massive power draw required for AI processing is nothing to worry about as AI will ultimately identify ways to help cut power consumption and drive the transition to sustainable energy. The Microsoft founder was speaking at an event in London hosted by his Breakthrough Energy venture fund this week, and …

  1. Eponymous Bastard
    Alert

    Trust

    How, or why could anyone trust this dweeb?

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Re: Trust

      Well, he got very lucky twice so he must know something.

      Another interesting comment of his I picked up the other day: without Paul Allen the PC revolution wouldn't have happened. That ignores Woz entirely, along with all the designers of the kit Microsoft Basic ran on, Gary Kildall, assorted non-Microsoft Basics and numerous other contributors. It was a bandwagon already underway when they jumped onboard.

      1. Binraider Silver badge

        Re: Trust

        Someone else would have done it if they had not. MS were lucky by being in right place at right time with IBM.

        DEC's dinosaur attitude of computers being big expensive things, not one on every desk, ultimately saw them bankrupted.

        Applied Statistics being the new buzzword had all manners of contenders trying to find the right niche. We're not there yet, but like the monkeys typing argument, throw enough shit at it and eventually something good tends to pop out. The difference in this case being that I (and many, many others) are highly dubious at best. But I'm also not going to rule out the possibility of a breakthrough. It would, after all, be the end of my job if someone can get the right model together.

      2. steviebuk Silver badge

        Re: Trust

        True. I wonder if he said it because he had a massive falling out with Paul. I don't know if they made up before he died or not. Also, he's an arse to not mention Gary considering he stiffed Gary out of CPM becoming top dog. The fact CPM did multi-tasking way before anyone else was amazing. I also never knew that Woz created the Universal Remote. He also ignored the engineers at Xerox who created the GUI that, lucky for Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, their management didn't understand what they had and let both take a peek. So both "borrowed" their GUIs from Xerox. Without them, Windows and Mac OS possibly wouldn't of existed for a long time.

  2. Ken Moorhouse Silver badge

    technology will adapt

    How's that Patch Tuesday regime going, Bill?

    1. Sandtitz Silver badge
      Mushroom

      Re: technology will adapt

      Things are going just like in the other OS universes.

      Six months into 2024, Linux Kernel CVE list totals "only" 1478 vulnerabilities.

  3. Paul Crawford Silver badge

    Oh yes, 640MW is enough for anyone!

    1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

      Well played, sir.

  4. Johannesburgel12

    How about not reporting on EVERY stupid thing some billionaire says?

    1. Philo T Farnsworth Bronze badge

      Sadly, many of these dolts hob nob with our elected (and otherwise) leaders at Davos, etc., so while annoying, its probably a good idea to keep an eye and ear on them.

      Bye the bye, Bill's hustling nuclear power "solutions" these days, so he's hardly a disinterested party. More energy use? Bill swoops in to the "rescue."

      Let's just hope his nuke doesn't need a Patch Tuesday. . .

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Nothing this man says comes from a good place, he is not, in my opinion, an honest man.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          like a line from a Shakespearian sonnet

          Post of the day already. That is such a beautiful sentence and it's construction is perfect.

      2. Lon24
        Mushroom

        Boot loops will be kinda interesting ... hence icon

      3. steviebuk Silver badge

        Or BSOD because someone was allowed to play in the Kernal.

    2. ecofeco Silver badge
      Big Brother

      You do realize they run the world, right?

      And their mistakes and gaffes have very real, and often deadly consequences for the rest of us plebes, right?

      That's why.

  5. PBuon

    Good old Bill. Wants to save the planet unless it’s something that serves him.

    1. Khaptain Silver badge

      "Good old Bill. Wants to save the planet as long as it’s something that serves him."

      There, fixed that for you.

    2. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

      WHo says he wants to save the planet ?

      What makes you think Bill is a good person ?

      His wife doesnt...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Bit of a bullshit arguement. Not everyone gets a long. People want different things, doesn't mean one or the other isn't a nice person. Many factors cause a relationship break down. Lets take Dawn French and Lenny Henry for example. Yes, we don't know them but word was they just wanted different things. She wanted to pretty much retire and live perm in Cornwall. Whereas Lenny's actor career was starting to take off in a big way so he wanted to still be in and close to London. So the only way to compromise for some people is to just split. I'd say neither of those two are bad people.

        Its like the argument I had with someone at work about people who are taken to court, found innocent and that should be the end of it. Her shit argument was "No, it just means they didn't have enough evidence to convict". I argued that's not always the case and if it was, you're essentially saying everyone found innocent is actually guilty and that its just because there wasn't enough evidence to convict. I gave up arguing as it was a massively flawed argument and essentially crimalised anyone that's ever been accused of anything and then found innocent.

        1. ZoranGrbic

          In the case of his wife leaving him, it wasn't pleasant. Combined with everything else he's doing, the image of the planet savior is starting to show cracks.

  6. Piro Silver badge

    But it can never adapt to 0 watts of draw

    Which is right where it should be.

    So it's fine the super-wealthy tell us what to do from their private jets and air conditioned mansions with heated pools; as they invest in energy sapping nonsense.

    Yet we're supposed to feel bad. No thanks.

  7. Lon24

    Simplistic Statistics

    Guess BG has been tutoring poor(!) Rishi: We have slashed 11% inflation to just 2% so love me - don't mention that still means what we pay is 13% or more than we used too..

    The object is not to cut an increase. That solves nothing.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Simplistic Statistics

      > The object is not to cut an increase. That solves nothing.

      Historical UK inflation rate and CPI (2000-2023)

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "AI [will] enable everyone to use less energy"

    I'd say instead that it is people (individuals' decisions) that will enable everyone to use less energy. At least by choosing modes of transportation where less energy is wasted in braking -- by virtue of being lighter, by having regenerative braking, or by just plain going straight like a bat out of hell, nonstop. Skateboards, roller skates, scooters, bicycles, segways, dogsleds, amish horse-buggies, and tramways, could all be great choices there.

    On the other hand, AI will likely enable many to expend less personal energy, while expanding their waistlines more into sedentary rotundism and yummy portliness, with a side of homeopathic schizophrenia (to nearly quote "I am the liquor" and "LionelB"). The coronary outcome should be most delicious!

    1. HuBo
      Holmes

      Re: "AI [will] enable everyone to use less energy"

      AI-"homeopathic schizophrenia" ... must be why there's now this raging epidemic of robot-waiter or -civil-servant "suicides" in the News (sample of 1)!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "AI [will] enable everyone to use less energy"

      "On the other hand, AI will likely enable many to expend less personal energy, while expanding their waistlines more into sedentary rotundism and yummy portliness, with a side of homeopathic schizophrenia (to nearly quote "I am the liquor" and "LionelB"). The coronary outcome should be most delicious!"

      This. After 3 months of work on a model for OS actions, I ended up trying to voice command everything. I was voice commanding in my sleep and when I was out and about. I was so lazy. I got rid of all my home smart lights and went back to getting up and switching them on.

      I became like one of those fat people in Wall-E in a big massage chair with my bellowing out voice commands left, right and centre.

      For Bill, we know he is chatting sh!t. For the forseeable future, the only way we can develop the current models is to throw processing at them. Coupled with half-arsed solutions to unsolvable problesm that consume even more power. Example at the moment: 1 prompt on ChatGPT is the same as 14 hours of power for your smartphone!

  9. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
    Terminator

    Sure ...

    Once we figure out how to build the Matrix (Wachowski, not Gibson) and plug humans in as batteries, fossil fuel consumption and CO2 emissions will drop like a stone.

    1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

      Re: Sure ...

      I understand early drafts of the Wachowskis' Matrix script had the humans plugged in to exploit their brain power but executive meddling resulted in it being replaced with heat energy generation in the eventual film world which is, frankly, nonsensical.

      It could have been a lot more interesting, for example "awakening" might have been learning how to take back that brain power to use against the system etc.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Faith and hope

    We have AI sucking down too much power, and the only answer techbros can think of is more AI.

    This approach to addressing the downsides of (frequently unnecessary and unasked for) technology with more (unproven and/or underfunded) technology, based on little more than faith, seems pervasive among tech mouthpieces.

    It's more or less just a "thoughts and prayers" response.

  11. Zolko Silver badge

    AI will ultimately identify ways to help cut power consumption

    shuts itself down as it realises how useless it is to create fake cat images since there are enough real cat images on the net. But why does Bill need AI to come to that conclusion ?

  12. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

    Good old Bill.. how come he never wears his "Save Jeffrey Epstien shirt" ?

  13. Zibob Silver badge

    Uh... Huh...

    "Bill G also said at the event in London that the energy puzzle will solve itself because the extra demand created by AI datacenters is likely to be matched by new investments in green electricity as technology companies are willing to pay extra to use clean electricity sources "to say that they're using green energy,""

    This coming from the person most closely related to Microsoft, who's Data centre in Dublin has installed, non grid connected, gas fired, fast start generators, for when they bring down the grid with their over consumption of "excess" grid energy.

    This arseclown need to put up or shut up.

    Talk is all good but essentially he is saying "not my problem" when it is exactly their data centres and their ilk that have caused this energy problem.

    If they want to laudate green energy, and are willing to.pay extra for it, they can sure as fuck start building some themselves. But no, gas fired it is, because right now is better than green.

    What a stunning cunt.

  14. codejunky Silver badge

    Hmm

    Interesting concept. So in order to figure out ways to use less energy we might need to use energy! Just as manufacturing the infrastructure to move to 'green energy' requires cheap and plentiful energy.

    So the idea of destroying our energy supply with experimental technology we know doesnt work reduces energy supply and makes it more expensive isnt a good idea.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hmm

      Hot takes straight out of Tufton Street.

  15. aapo

    "Nobody will ever need more than 640KB of RAM" -- Bill Gates, 1981

  16. Splod

    Typical Gates

    We're going to lock you plebs in 15 min cities and force you to live in low carbon pods eating bugs, but the rich and the controllers of AI used to help monitor us, can have all the power they want.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Typical Gates

      "It's The Cabal!"

  17. ravenviz Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Let’s be clear here

    AI is not going to reduce energy consumption, AI will be used to reduce energy consumption.

    1. ZoranGrbic

      Re: Let’s be clear here

      What point are you trying to make?

      Anyway, you turn it; Schmidt and Gates are full of shit and just telling us to buzz off. They both have a financial interest in AI and are the human version of a parasite. They will do anything to earn more, even if it messes up other people's futures.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like