Why is AI so thirsty?

Today in Focus

The Guardian

Daily News, News

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Keir Starmer plans to rapidly increase the amount of artificial intelligence used in the public sector. But what is the environmental cost? Helena Horton reports. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Guardian.
0:10.1	Today, why artificial intelligence is thirstier than you might think.
0:20.7	People can't stop talking about Golden Globe nominated for Best Picture Drama, September 5.
0:25.6	There's a hostage situation right now in the Olympic Village.
0:28.2	A claustrophobic masterpiece, The Times, Ed Potten.
0:31.2	ABC wants news to take over.
0:32.5	Your sports, they're in way over your head.
0:34.3	Based on true events.
0:35.5	If they shoot someone on live television, whose story is that?
0:38.6	Is it ours or is it theirs?
0:39.9	A tot, tense thriller, four stars, The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw.
0:43.1	Our job is to tell the story of these individuals.
0:45.6	What's happening?
0:46.5	Oh, God.
0:47.3	September 5 and Cinemas February 6th, cert 15.
1:01.4	I'm one of the more than 11 million people around the world who pay to subscribe to an AI chatbot.
1:09.8	I won't say which one, because no free rides here, but over the past few months, I've watched it weave its way into my life.
1:15.3	There's the obvious stuff, advice on recipes, give me a movie to watch tonight.
1:17.8	The kinds of questions I used to just Google.
1:21.2	But also, lots of things I wouldn't have Googled.
1:28.3	Like a friend of mine a few weeks ago sent me a picture of his grandpa's old desk that he'd found in a back room of the house. It had these strange symbols and texts carved all over it, and I uploaded the picture.
1:36.0	What was this stuff? Carvings on the desk appear to be written in Swedish and are likely in an
	...

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