Why are AI data centers using so much electricity? - Sajan Saini (Level 1)

Since 2019, many huge buildings called AI data centers have appeared around the world. They train and run large language models like ChatGPT. One center can use as much water as a small town and as much electricity as a small city. Inside, thousands of computers with special chips called GPUs work together. They do hard math fast. But this creates a lot of heat. The chips can get so hot that they could melt. Engineers use water and special liquids to cool them. They are also replacing copper wires with light-based wires. This uses less power. However, AI keeps growing. By 2028, U.S. data centers might use as much energy as eight New York Cities. We do not have enough energy for this. We can build smaller models or use light to do math. In the end, we must decide how many resources to spend on smarter machines.