How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use?
This article examines the energy consumption of data centers and AI, distinguishing between model training and inference. It highlights that while AI energy demand is a growing concern, inference currently dominates total electricity usage.
Energy How much energy do data centers and artificial intelligence use? Data centers consume around 1.5% of global electricity, but demand is very geographically concentrated. By Hannah Ritchie July 20, 2026 Browse past versions Cite this article Reuse our work freely Few — if any — technologies have been adopted as quickly as artificial intelligence (AI). Since that computation runs on electricity, discussions around AI often return to what this means for energy demand.
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