Mayors in capital cities have warned that electricity bills will rise for households if Australia expands AI data centre infrastructure. AI training facilities consume enormous amounts of energy, with training operations using the equivalent of 100,000 households' annual energy consumption. The limited capacity of the current power grid means AI facilities would compete directly with businesses and families for electricity supply.
Well, mayors in capital cities have worn the government that electricity bills will rise for households if Australia rolls out more AI data centers.
They say the current power grid only has limited capacity to energize the AI facilities and that without support that be competing for electricity with business and families.
For more, we're joined by Dr Matt Agu and from today FM Breakfast, Emma Chow, good morning to you both. Matt, you're well versed in AI and the amount of energy that consumes, of course. What's your take on this?
Yeah, look, AI is having an impact on consumers in ways that we're not necessarily aware of and one is the energy usage.
You can't have two phases of AI when you're using it for a prompt, which doesn't use too much energy, maybe ten times as much as a Google search, so pretty trivial.
But the training part when it's actually learning how to operate, that can use about the equivalent of 100,000 households using energy for an entire year.
So that's really expensive and that does have an impact on the grid and obviously supply and demand, it can have an impact on pricing.
So we're seeing AI impacting in different ways and other ways is RAM, random access memory, really important part of computing.
Again, AI data centers are using RAM by the truckloads and that's again impacting consumers, it's causing the prices of computing and other technology to go up as well.
This is why I'm not the minister for energy because I've never even given that a second thought.
Have you, these are Michael with just tools, right?
That's why I had to make Matt the X-ray.
Have you ever been all for a minute to consider?
When I stopped to Google the train time test, I never think, I never think about that.
You're not catching the train.
And apparently, first of all, is that the only reason that you don't want to be the minister for it?
First of all, we're looking at power prices.
I mean, the upside of AI, like it really is affecting our hypocrite when you think about it.
Yeah, I think like anything that is going to make it, like we've got cos it lives going on, it's going to happen for the foreseeable future.
Anything that makes our water bills or our electricity bills go up, you need to find another way.
That's it.
I was just going to Google an alternative electricity source, but I think that's going to cost too much.
That's it. Don't burn through it.
Why don't we just go ahead and move on to something we all understand?
And trolley dubbed outside of Bunnings store in Adelaide has managed to cost a customer a couple of hundred bucks.
After a gust of wind swept it across the car park and sent a crashing into a park SUV.
Emma, the owner of the car revealed that Bunnings did contribute 300 bucks out of goodwill,
but he still left to fix the dent.
Will this make you think twice about where you leave your trolley or your car?
I always park away from trolley.
If there's one in the bay and that's the only free passport, I'll put park on the street.
I'm not parking there next to the trolley.
Also, I saw her lead at my local shops the other day, and she walked all the way up to the trolley bay,
but then parked it outside of the trolley bay.
No way.
Why?
I almost told her off.
Did you get a video of that with a lot to run on the show?
Name and shame.
What is it about a possibility of a fine?
I don't know who's liable here.
Is it Bunnings?
Is it the person who, you know, disregarded parking?
Is it the trolley manufacturer?
I'm unsure, but it is a real litmus test I think of people.
It's not illegal to not put away your trolley, but it impacts someone else.
So it's, you know, are you a good person?
Do you put trolley's away?
Yeah, I think a fine should be, you know, warranted at this case.
I carry like eight bags at a time with my toddler in tow,
and I still manage to get my trolley, although back to the bay.
So there is no excuse.
It's kind of courtesy.
Absolutely.
But put it back in the trolley bay.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, it's going to take you an extra 15 seconds to do it.
No, I'm really flaring about that.
You're not angry.
He doesn't know what he's doing.
You're going to flound it, Larry.
You would most certainly put it back up.
This is why I always get my driver to park outside.
I told you he doesn't get time.
There is trolley so that you have to squeeze for them to move.
Perhaps funning should have those.
You know, on the handle, you've got to lock the if-
