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Power Play · Tuesday · 27 min

Overbuild

Nobody’s AI has gone down for lack of electricity. So why are we rushing to build more? The chips keep getting more efficient, and the plans being announced may run well ahead of what gets built. If the demand doesn’t show up, households pay twice: first on their power bills, then again in their retirement savings. Jackie Snow makes the case for slowing down. CREDITS: Power Play is a production by Quartz and The Capitalist Hippie. Reported by Jackie Snow, Catherine Baab, and Joseph Zeballos-Roig. Hosted by Marco Pimentel. Produced by Simon Litt. Edited by Georgina Kemp Walker.

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Nobody’s AI has gone down for lack of electricity. So why are we rushing to build more?

The chips keep getting more efficient, and the plans being announced may run well ahead of what gets built. If the demand doesn’t show up, households pay twice: first on their power bills, then again in their retirement savings. Jackie Snow makes the case for slowing down.


CREDITS: 

Power Play is a production by Quartz and The Capitalist Hippie. 

Reported by Jackie Snow, Catherine Baab, and Joseph Zeballos-Roig. 

Hosted by Marco Pimentel. 

Produced by Simon Litt. 

Edited by Georgina Kemp Walker.


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