Oracle announces $300b deal with OpenAI, Will Require Two Hoover Dams of Electricity

Draugoth

Draugoth

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OpenAI signed a contract to purchase $300 billion in computing power over roughly five years from Oracle, people familiar with the matter said, a massive commitment that far outstrips the startup's current revenue.

The deal is one of the largest cloud contracts ever signed, reflecting how spending on AI data centers is hitting new highs despite mounting concerns over a potential bubble. It will require 4.5 gigawatts of capacity, roughly comparable to the power produced by more than two Hoover Dams or the amount consumed by about four million homes
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Anyone else find it strikingly odd that A.I sucks up power like no tomorrow but quite a few countries have been hoodwinked into believing their energy needs will come from windmills and farting :unsure:
 
Draugoth said:
Too many Data Centers, also you don't want want to have Nuclear Powered power plants in the hands of stupid tech companies.
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So instead we will have ultra high utility bills and potential for blackouts due to overstrained grid? Time for nuclear to make a significant comeback, IMO. They also won't be "in the hands" of the tech companies.. Just as the current power facilities are not "in their hands", they are customers.
 
DownLikeBCPowder said:
So instead we will have ultra high utility bills and potential for blackouts due to overstrained grid? Time for nuclear to make a significant comeback, IMO. They also won't be "in the hands" of the tech companies.. Just as the current power facilities are not "in their hands", they are customers.
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It's technically the most viable and fastest solution, but Nuclear Power is heavily regulated and controlled by governements due to security reasons. They would have to be integrated into the normal power grid.
 
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Draugoth said:
It's technically the most viable and fastest solution, but Nuclear Power is heavily regulated and controlled by governements due to security reasons. They would have to be integrated into the normal power grid.
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Yes, that would be the goal. I don't mean specifically for the exclusive use of these machine farms, sorry if it came across that way.
 
Dr.Morris79 said:
Anyone else find it strikingly odd that A.I sucks up power like no tomorrow but quite a few countries have been hoodwinked into believing their energy needs will come from windmills and farting :unsure:
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A 100km² solar farm with good storage capacity can meet this type of energy need.

The bigger concern should be if AI investments on these scales have any sort of road to profitability.
 
Dr.Morris79 said:
Anyone else find it strikingly odd that A.I sucks up power like no tomorrow but quite a few countries have been hoodwinked into believing their energy needs will come from windmills and farting :unsure:
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These countries will first of all care about heating houses, etc., not what techbros want to do. I would imagine if this impacts power delivery to citizens the government (at least in Europe) will be quick to step in.
 
Cyberpunkd said:
These countries will first of all care about heating houses, etc., not what techbros want to do. I would imagine if this impacts power delivery to citizens the government (at least in Europe) will be quick to step in.
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Well, here in the UK we'll just have to stick a pin in that and come back to it.. :unsure:

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MidGenRefresh said:
When the bubble bursts, it will hurt a lot.
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Yeah, it's becoming more and more obvious every month with the outlandish numbers and claims being thrown around by the tech industry. Just try to find the actual profit numbers for AI - they're making it really difficult to separate because they are doing everything they can to hide how bad the losses are. When you do find some reporting, it's insane levels of loss.
 
Draugoth said:
It's technically the most viable and fastest solution, but Nuclear Power is heavily regulated and controlled by governements due to security reasons. They would have to be integrated into the normal power grid.
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No, they won't. The plants would JUST power the ai centers as there can be NO failure of the server farms, while the regular power grid can go down. These ai hubs are gonna run 24/7 with a more constant power draw than the general grid. So only constant power production is gonna work for them, so that's a dam, 24/7 coal/gas plant, or nuclear. And nuclear us really the only environmentally sound system for the scale we are gonna need.

I half think the "green movement" was a long term sabotage of power production of other industrialized countries to PREVENT them from eventual Ai utilization.
 
China is killing the US on Energy grid front. US needs to build more Nuke power and build it now if they want to keep up with AI wars.
 
AI bubble is going to burst soon. its too expensive and at the end of the day it will be best used for sex robots or maids. and no one is spending $50-100k on that.
 
SlimySnake said:
AI bubble is going to burst soon. its too expensive and at the end of the day it will be best used for sex robots or maids. and no one is spending $50-100k on that.
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speak for yourself!

I fully intend for my kids to have a REALLY awkward discovery in my closet when I die a 95 year old widower (sadly, my people far outlive my wifes :( and they come to clean out my stuff. Hopefully the sex bot is smart enough to run away and hide, at least till after the funeral :P
 
Dr.Morris79 said:
Anyone else find it strikingly odd that A.I sucks up power like no tomorrow but quite a few countries have been hoodwinked into believing their energy needs will come from windmills and farting :unsure:
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Solar and wind are cheap and generate plentiful energy. Why the need to mock something that lowers your energy bill? There's no hoodwinking into paying less for energy. Granted a proper energy strategy needs to include a mix of sources because typically you cannot fullfill 100% of demand with renewables.
 
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Bitmap Frogs said:
Solar and wind are cheap and generate plentiful energy. Why the need to mock something that lowers your energy bill? There's no hoodwinking into paying less for energy. Granted a proper energy strategy needs to include a mix of sources because typically you cannot fullfill 100% of demand with renewables, but the outright hostility towards things that lower your bills is odd.
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Are you kidding?

Solar for sure is a TERRIBLE way to power your 24/7 AI server farm, its super inconsistent and the best solar is in blasted hot areas far from people, not ideal placement of the AI servers. Same with wind, the sheer number of windmills required to provide a consistent power flow again is extravagant and not well placed where people actually live.

Nuclear is really the only way, at least until we can beam power down from space or something. The total footprint is small, the power flow is consistent, redundancy and excess capacity can be (relatively) easily scaled to meet demand, and the waste is minimal. Nuclear production is so far away from a Simpsons style uranium rod plant that they can barely even be compared. It will end up being polluting coal and nat gas though, if we don't speed up nuclear.
 
Where I live, electricity prices are skyrocketing and it's largely because of the enenrgy demand of these stupid AI systems.

I don't see why or how we are being forced to subsidize OpenAI and Google as they work to make us redundant and lose our jobs. This seems insane to me. If the value of AI to them is so high then let them pay for all the electricity and the increased "surge" pricing and building of new nuclear plants and everything else.
 
Bitmap Frogs said:
That's because half of UK's electricity comes from burning natural gas, and gas has greatly increased in price. If it wasn't for renewables energy prices would be higher than they are.
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I like your enthusiasm, I must admit.

But no. It's because our wonderful government are dead set on shutting down our actual means of production and cutting our balls of at every turn.
 
Dr.Morris79 said:
I like your enthusiasm, I must admit.

But no. It's because our wonderful government are dead set on shutting down our actual means of production and cutting our balls of at every turn.
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It's the truth. In many markets (including the uk) the price of electricity is set by the most expensive source used at the time, and burning gas is suicidal right now. On average in Europe gas sets the price for electricity about 40% of the day, but for the UK it`'s most of the day.
 
Bitmap Frogs said:
It's the truth. In many markets (including the uk) the price of electricity is set by the most expensive source used at the time, and burning gas is suicidal right now. On average in Europe gas sets the price for electricity about 40% of the day, but for the UK it`'s most of the day.
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Yes. Now ask yourself why the UK isn't putting everything into being more self sufficient, when we've had the ability to for years, and could have been, for years, and why we've absolutely nose dived into net zero :unsure:
 
Dr.Morris79 said:
Yes. Now ask yourself why the UK isn't putting everything into being more self sufficient, when we've had the ability to for years, and could have been, for years, and why we've absolutely nose dived into net zero :unsure:
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Renewables means more self sufficiency if that's what you ask.
 
Draugoth said:
Too many Data Centers, also you don't want want to have Nuclear Powered power plants in the hands of stupid tech companies.
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Tech companies actually maintain their stuff because it's how they stay in business. It's governments that let the infrastructure decay to the point of crumbling.
 
ReBurn said:
Tech companies actually maintain their stuff because it's how they stay in business. It's governments that let the infrastructure decay to the point of crumbling.
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While I agree with you on principle, there is also a certain "redundancy of quality control" that the government can do very well but a private company might skimp on. So for a traditional nuclear reactor with big rods and a catastrophic meltdown potential, I don't think private companies should be messing with that stuff.

But there are apparently pellet reactors that are much safer, use a less enriched product, and could/should be allowed. Alas, the very word "irradiated" freaks people out, be it for food, medical processes, or whatever.
 
jason10mm said:
While I agree with you on principle, there is also a certain "redundancy of quality control" that the government can do very well but a private company might skimp on. So for a traditional nuclear reactor with big rods and a catastrophic meltdown potential, I don't think private companies should be messing with that stuff.

But there are apparently pellet reactors that are much safer, use a less enriched product, and could/should be allowed. Alas, the very word "irradiated" freaks people out, be it for food, medical processes, or whatever.
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The funny thing is that governments don't necessarily perform quality control. They tend to contract it out to companies to perform on their behalf and then fine those companies for failure. Government fails at infrastructure all the time and then raises taxes to pay for their mistakes.

Corporations like OpenAI are going to contract with local governments and power utilities to manage their electricity needs. They're not going to do it themselves because it's not what they're good at. But they will have SLA's and financial incentives to keep the services properly maintained, which is better than what we tend to get with publicly funded projects.
 
Bitmap Frogs said:
I feel you man.

Unfortunately until Russia is allowed to sell natural gas to Europe again prices will remain high.
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No sane country or person wants to pay for the russian arms race.

Germany should get its act together and open the nuclear power plants instead, and the rest of us should build them.
 
Forsete said:
No sane country or person wants to pay for the russian arms race.

Germany should get its act together and open the nuclear power plants instead, and the rest of us should build them.
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I agree with you. And in fact so does the Starmer government - they've started the process to build a nuclear plant, the first built in the uk since 1980. And one is not enough, they need more.

But construction takes 7-10 years it's not a short term fix.
 
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