For decades, we have scrolled for a quick search without thinking about the back-end mechanisms or processes involved. However, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has paved the way for a fundamental reasoning: Innovation has a price, and India’s energy ecosystem must be ready for the upcoming disruption. The instant answers and creative outputs we receive from AI are not magic — they are the result of vast amounts of energy being consumed, processed, and transformed.

The old search engine economy was frugal. A single web search consumed a mere 0.3 watt-hours of power, a tiny, almost negligible amount. The new AI economy is interactive and doesn’t just retrieve information; it reasons, drafts, and assists, making it a far more power-intensive process. A single AI prompt, on conservative estimates, consumes about 1.7 watt-hours — a six-fold increase over a standard search. This shift isn’t just about the per-prompt cost; it’s about volume. Unlike a simple search, AI is sticky. People don’t ask one question and stop; they engage in extended conversations, asking 10, 50, or even 100 prompts a day. This........

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