Altman Compares AI Energy Costs to Raising a Human Child
OpenAI's CEO calls criticism of AI's energy consumption 'unfair,' arguing humans require 20 years of resources to train.
Sam Altman has a new rebuttal for anyone worried about AI's massive energy appetite: humans are worse.
Speaking at an event hosted by The Indian Express, the OpenAI CEO pushed back on growing concerns about AI's environmental footprint. His argument? Training a human takes roughly 20 years of life and all the food consumed during that period. By comparison, he suggested, the discourse around AI energy usage is "unfair."
It's a bold deflection. Critics have increasingly hammered AI companies over the enormous power demands of training and running large language models. Data centers are gobbling up electricity at unprecedented rates, straining grids and raising climate concerns.
Altman's human-versus-machine comparison is creative framing, but it sidesteps a key detail: AI systems supplement human workers rather than replace them entirely — meaning the energy costs stack.