The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries and revolutionizing our lives. From self-driving cars to medical diagnostics, AI systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous. However, this technological revolution comes with a significant energy cost.

Training and running complex AI models require vast amounts of computational power, leading to a surge in electricity demand. This burgeoning energy consumption has sparked a renewed interest in nuclear power, particularly small modular reactors (SMRs), as a potential solution to meet the growing energy needs of AI while mitigating climate change.

Traditional data centres, the backbone of AI development and deployment, are already notorious for their substantial energy consumption. As AI models grow in size and complexity, the energy required to train them increases exponentially. For instance, training a large language model like GPT-3 can consume as much electricity as a small town. This trend is only expected to accelerate as AI becomes more pervasive in various sectors of the economy.

The environmental implications of this energy demand are significant. If AI’s energy needs are met through fossil fuels, it could exacerbate........

© Sarnia Observer