amounts

AI consumes obscene amounts of energy. Sam Altman compares it to the cost of “training” humans

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman participated in an event organized by The Indian Express. During the interview made some striking statements, but the greatest of all of them was the one he dedicated to talking about what it costs to train an AI model. In fact, he complained about how many of ChatGPT’s energy consumption discussions they are unfair. Training humans also consumes a lot. The interviewer asked Altman about ChatGPT’s energy consumption and Sam Altman took a few seconds to answer the question, and then made a peculiar comparison (my bold): One of the things that is always unfair in this comparison is that it talks about how much energy it takes to train an AI model compared to what it costs a human to perform an inference query. But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes about 20 years of life and all the food you eat during that time before you become intelligent. And not only that, it took the widespread evolution of the hundred billion people who have lived and learned not to be eaten by predators and to understand science and so on to create you. The fair comparison is if you ask ChatGPT, how much energy does it take once their model is trained to answer that question compared to a human? And AI has probably already caught up in terms of energy efficiency if we measure it that way. A previous Epoch AI study corroborates that energy consumption during inference (when we actually use ChatGPT, for example) is low. Source: Epoch AI. Training is one thing, inference another.. The answer may be controversial, but to a certain extent it is logical: learning, both in the case of humans and AI, takes time and consumes many resources, but that cost is one thing and the cost of inference, of “applying that training”, is another. Once we have learned, it is not too difficult to answer things. This is what Altman is trying to point out here, who recognizes that AI does indeed consume a lot of energy in training, but that it has then become very efficient in the inference phase, when we actually use ChatGPT. The problem is that although Altman has already spoken that in inference consumption is minimal, does not provide evidence of this. The water problem is no longer a problem. He also spoke about the controversial water consumption that was theoretically carried out in large AI data centers. Although he acknowledged that this was a problem when “we used to use evaporative cooling in data centers.” Now, however, “we don’t do that,” he recalled, and made it clear that those accusations that “ChatGPT uses 17 gallons per query, or whatever” is totally false, “totally crazy, it has no connection with reality.” But again, there is still no official data from AI companies in this section. How much does AI really consume? The truth is that at this point we still do not have really clear data on how much the AI ​​consumes both in the training phase and in the inference phase. There are those who have investigated energy and water consumption and have made a mistake. wildly exaggerating the databut for example in the US, where a large number of data centers are concentrated, there is no legislation that forces transparency with those figures. Increasingly more efficient models and data centers. One of the most interesting studies was the one made by Epoch AI in February 2025, and at that time it was also concluded that AI did not actually consume as much as it was said to consume. In fact, it consumed relatively little and the models have only improved in efficiency. Chips and cooling systems have also improved, and although data centers have certainly require enormous amounts of energywe continue blindly in this section. In Xataka | Spain has a plan to capture more data centers than anyone else: “shield” them from energy costs

Buy huge amounts of Ravioli in can

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Germany has decided that (if it arrives) the war will not catch it off guard, so it wants add more soldiers to his army and even has been interested again in World War II bunkers. To the elderly of all that, the Foreign Ministry has proposed that neither war nor any other national emergency, such as natural disasters or accidents, will make their population go hungry. Hence Raviolis wants, Many Raviolis. What happened? That Germany wants to be prepared in case of war. And in his government that preparation goes through more than strengthen Your military spending, Journal to his old bunkers, Aleccate to its population or recover (Significantly) the old mili, a service that Berlin said goodbye in 2011 and that has now reactivated voluntarily before the threat of Russia. In addition to all that, Friedrich Merz’s Foreign Ministry wants Improve the reservation Food emergency. The objective: that if things are complicated, nobody is hungry. But are there reservations, right? That’s how it is. Strategic food reserves are nothing new. Nor exclusive from Germany. Nor are they created thinking only of war scenarios, natural disasters or accidents. We recently saw how Japan I looked hand of his national rice deposit to cut the grain price climb and Poland has made Something similar With butter. In Germany the authorities store food, especially cereals, lentils and powdered milk, For decades. The Times Calculate That every year 25 million euros are spent on maintaining a reserve of around 100,000 tons of provisions, including rice and legumes, guarded in 150 deposits whose location remains secret. The country also has a reserve of 700,000 T of wheat, rye and barley preservations near large mills. What is the news then? That the German authorities have asked themselves an interesting question: does it make sense that the provisions of 2025 are the same as those of the 70s or 80s? After all, rice, wheat, rye or lentil grains are raw foods that must be made before consuming them. In an interview with El Podcast ‘Berlin Playbook Podcast’Agricultural Minister Alois Rainer (CSU) slid That perhaps it is time for Germany to rethink its reserves and complement the bags of barley and wheat with something that we are all much more familiar: precooked cans that can be consumed just by putting it in a microwave or using a stove. What exactly has he said? “We are currently in a security situation that forces us all to reflect. For me it is important that food security plays a key role together with the armament supply,” advocated the minister. “I want to create a national reserve of elaborate products that can be consumed more to heat them.” Rainer even went further and He threw himself To cite two concrete examples of what it has in mind: “It is for example of canned raviolis, canned lentils or other products.” Is it just an idea? It does not seem. The person in charge of Agriculture was not limited to launching vague or abstract ideas in the air. During the interview, extra data that suggests that, at least, the Executive has made accounts of what change for the reserve of emergency foods. According to your calculations, you would demand Between 80 and 90 million. As for logistics, Rainer acknowledged that it would be necessary to have the industry to get the idea forward. “My proposal would be to involve the private sector, the large food chains. They have the necessary supply chains and the storage capacity.” “We are currently in a security situation that makes us reflect to everyone,” Rainer insisted. “For me it is important that, in addition to the supply of military equipment, food security also plays a fundamental role.” Although the German executive He said recently That, in his opinion, “Russia is and will continue to be the greatest threat to freedom, square and stability in Europe”, Rainer recalled that the reserves are not only used in case of war: it is useful of it to face disasters or accidents. Why is it important? Because Rainer’s words, government plans to rethink their food reserve giving a greater prominence to canned raviolis, arrives in a very concrete context. Germany arises triple your expense In defense until reaching 3.5% of GDP in 2029, an investment effort that for Foreign Minister Merz does not respond to US pressures in NATO, but because of the “active and aggressive” threat that Kremlin represents today. With that backdow 260,000 soldiers active for the beginning of the next decade. Now it has 183,000. Images | Nicolas Cuestas (UNSPLASH), Commons and Henry Perks (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | Russia has just launched the greatest order to Europe since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. And Europe has responded with fire

Google, Amazon and Microsoft have been burning absurd amounts of money in Ia for years. Finally they begin to see green sprouts

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The AI boom made Big Tech will increase their capital spending to limits that had never been seen. The fear that The bubble will explode Rondaba, investors They started to get nervous and the profitability of AI remains in doubt. The last results are a green outbreak, the first in a long time, although with many buts. The cloud reaches capex. They tell it in The Information. Capital or Capex expenses of the Big Tech in recent years have climbed unstoppable, much faster than their income, but in the results of the last quarter the gap is finally closing, but not because chatbots and other products are being profitable, but thanks to revenue from cloud services. The crazy one is committed to AI is beginning to show a slight green outbreak, even if it is not directly because of AI products. Income from cloud services are approaching capital spending. Source: The Information (click on the image to access X) The four riders. There are two clear winners of the departure, one that already brought the duties done and one that goes free. Let’s see who is who: Microsoft: The clear winner with a Income increase of 25% In the last quarter, mainly thanks to the growth of Microsoft Azure. Google: Record a 20% increase In your income thanks to Google Cloud and advertising. Amazon: falls 7%but it is the only one that was in positive numbers. Amazon Web Services is the largest provider of cloud services and was already profitable, although its growth is beginning to slow down. Goal: Your income grows 22%but they basically come from advertising. Goal does not sell cloud services, so it does not generate income directly. Indirectly, yes: AI has allowed them Improve the efficiency of your advertising business. Burning money. The increase in capex by AI has reached madness figures that had never been seen in other technological booms. By the end of 2024 we talked about investing a real barbarity In data centers: Microsoft 30,000 million, Goal 35,000 million, Google 25,000 million… The dizziness figures, and have not stopped increasing. Amazon said at the beginning of the year that He wanted to spend 100,000 million in data centers for AI and goal is building several data centers whose combined cost could rise to 200,000 million dollars. Skepticism. This excessive spending frenzy soon unleashed a wave of skepticism. AND If AI is another bubble And is it about to explode? Milmillionaire investments are not translating in income. Even Satya Nadella himself, one of the protagonists of this revolution, was skeptical because At the moment no one is making gold with AI. It is not that they are not making gold, it is that nobody is earning money. In their newsletter, Ed Zitron had accounts And the difference between what is expected to spend in 2025 and the return that is giving them the AI is not that it is a reason to doubt, it is directly no sense: Capex planned in 2025 BENEFITS IN IA IN 2025 Microsoft 80,000 million 13,000 million Google 75,000 million 7.7 billion Amazon 105,000 million 5,000 million goal 72,000 million 3,000 million Green outbreak Yes, in singular. The latest results are hopeful, but we are very far from being able to say that AI is a profitable business, especially As far as generative AI is concerned. Good results are thanks to cloud services, chatbots or audio or video generators are not profitable. Subscriptions to these tools are a way to monetize, but The income they generate is child compared to spending. Despite doubts, unbridled expense has not stopped and this green outbreak can be more than enough for investors to continue throwing banknotes to the AI well. Image | Microsoft In Xataka | The AI industry has become a kind of ‘game of thrones’. And that reveals a worrying truth for your future

In the 50 we decided to bombard food cans with huge amounts of radiation. Thus we discover a new bacteria: ‘D. Radiodurans’

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What happens if we bombard Escherichia coli? Well, many things may probably happen, but what happened in 1956 was that those responsible for this extreme experience discovered a new species of bacteria. They discovered it for a simple fact: Deinococcus radiodurans It is a bacterium with enormous resistance to ionizing radiation. In his experiment, the team submitted the can to a Dose of 4,000 gray (gy) of radiation-γ. A radiation capable of sterilizing almost anything. At first, its discoverers baptized the species as Micrococcus radioduransbut decades of taxonomic work led to reclassify the species as a member of a new genre that was called Deinococcus. The new name of the bacteria: D. Radiodurans. Almost seven decades after the discovery of its first member, the strange family of the deinococcus already has 11 cataloged species. The “strange” is not a saying: the name of this genre comes from the Greek word “Deinos“, Which can be translated as” strange “or” unusual. “ Seven decades of study have allowed us to enter the mechanisms that D. RadioduransUse to get unharmed from exposure to ionizing radiation (it is estimated that the bacteria can leave “rositas” of Dose equivalent to 5,000 gy and get to survive even higher levels) and the breaks of the DNA chains that usually result from this type of exposure. This bacterium uses several “tricks” of survival that, according to An article Posted in 2005 in Naturecan be classified between passive, and active or enzymatic mechanisms. Among the passive mechanisms that this bacterium has, the fact that D. Radiodurans Porta with several copies of its genome and with a condensed organization in its nuclear body. Thus you can avoid the dissemination of DNA fragments generated upon receiving radiation, explains the signatory team of the article in Nature. Regarding active or enzymatic mechanisms, the article explains that this unicellular organism has processes for the Damaged DNA repair. Also how much with mechanisms that limit DNA degradation after receiving radiation. The study continues In the last 20 years we have continued advancing in the study of this strange bacteria. Last year without going any further, the magazine Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a new article detailing a study that revealed new aspects of the resistance of this bacterium. The article studied the presence of a series of metabolites of this bacterium that, in combination with manganese, could form a powerful antioxidant agent. The team analyzed a synthetic version of this compound they called MDP, composed of manganese ions, phosphate and a small peptide. As they observedthe MDP components form a much more powerful complex when protecting against radiation than the compounds formed by the combination of manganese and the individual components of the MDP. The resistance of the bacteria can fascinate us but if so much attracts the interest of the scientific community is not only out of curiosity. Discoveries such as MDP antioxidant can help us protect our own radiation body and its effects. If we want to do long -term space tripsprotect us from Cosmic radiation It is essential; as it can also be to protect people who could be exposed to excessive radiation doses here on Earth. We do not know much about the origin of this bacterium but decades of study have given us enough information to rule out some ideas perhaps more typical of science fiction, such as the one that is postulating that it is an extraterrestrial organism or the fruit of the entry into the nuclear era. D. Radiodurans It is a bacterium, which implies a clear bond with the rest of the living beings of this planet and the evolution of its gender does not seem something that can occur in a few decades. The study of this bacterium, and of other similar will continue, either to satisfy our natural curiosity or to try to find new ways to protect us against radiation. In Xataka | The last time we lost a radioactive capsule ended in tragedy: Kramorsk nuclear incident Image | Michael Daly laboratory, uniform Services University / Catalan

China is immersed in a nuclear revolution and needs industrial amounts of Uranium. His solution: “fish” in the sea

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China is one of the countries that is most promoting the adoption of renewable energy thanks to Great ‘farms’ and market saturation of solar panels. At the same time, they have approved the Construction of ten new nuclear reactors. It may seem a contradiction, but in the midst of a Strong commercial warit is another step in energy self -sufficiency, and to achieve it they will need tons of uranium. Your solution? Squeeze the uranium of the seas. Marine mine. The country account with 56 nuclear reactors and has between 25 and 29 under construction. This implies that they need a lot of Uranium and the problem is that they do not produce enough. HE esteem That, in 2023, China’s production was only 1,700 tons, 4% worldwide, and although they have strong reserves, they need more. In turn, China imported Some 22,000 tons in 2024 and have begun to put solutions. In 2024 began The construction of the National Project of Uranium Nº1 in Ordos. It will become the largest uranium mine in the country and a few months ago They announced that had discovered another important site, also in Ordos. However, it still is not enough, so they have seen the sea. Uranium fish. Because yes: there is uranium in the oceans. Its concentration is extremely low, about 3 micrograms per liter, but due to oceanic immensity, it is estimated that the total is 4.5 billion tons of uranium. There are a thousand times more uranium in the seas than in known land reserves. Extract Uranium from the sea is not something new and, during the 80s, Japan led the development of marine uranium extraction techniques. The problem is that it is a complex and, above all, inefficient process. That is why researchers focus on active uranium collection methods‘dapando’ different materials to be able to extract more material per liter. It is also a expensive method, about ten times more to extract it from terrestrial sources. Miraculous material. But this is where the Chinese team of the Frontiers Science Center For Rare isotopes of the University of Lanzhou enters. In a study published in NatureThey explain that the key to extracting more efficient marine uranium resides in the MOF, or metal-organic frameworks. It is a crystalline material composed of metal ions that are coordinated with organic elements to form structures of great porosity. It is like an extremely efficient fishing network to catch small particles that, in the case of uranium, allows you to better separate this element from others to which it can be attached. The Chinese team has dopa with Dipniletinelo molecules and claim that this new DAE-MOF material allows an uranium absorption capacity of 588 mg per gram, according to the tests. This involves an efficiency 40 times higher when separating uranium from metals and vanadium and has been tested both in simulated and real sea water. Aim. The idea is now to create test extraction plants this year, with pilot plants on the tons scale for 2035 and with a continuous production by 2050. wait That China’s demand for uranium is more than 40,000 tons in 2040, so land mines in conjunction with these marine alternative sources are essential to achieve the goal. Without a doubt, it is an advance in marine uranium extraction at a time when the rest of the players on this board are also found Looking for ways to get more out of the sea for energy independence at a time when buying to other countries He has put up legs. And the United States, of course, is also in that fight, with the US Department of Energy analyzing The technical, economic and environmental viability of large -scale uranium extraction in its waters. Images | Robordouderio, Robert Taylor from StirlingNature In Xataka | Spanish nuclear have been criticized for their role in the blackout. This was what they did before, during and after collapse

Green hydrogen consumes huge amounts of water. A new incredibly simple invention allows you to use seawater

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Green hydrogen is the missing piece in the puzzle of decarbonization. In a day like today, in which Spain It has produced 107.3% of the country’s energy demand From renewable sources, a greater storage capacity (batteries or pumping centrals and a more flexible demand is needed. Produce green hydrogen When electricity is very cheap It is the country’s commitment to take advantage of that surplus. There is a problem. While green hydrogen It occurs with solar or wind energy (That is why it is said that it is an energy vector that stores clean energy), the process to produce itwater electrolysis consumes huge amounts of fresh water, an increasingly scarce resource for billions of people in threatened regions For chronic drought. The obvious solution is to use seawaterthe most abundant resource on the planet. But of course, salt and impurities run the equipment and reduce the efficiency of the process. External desalination makers are needed, adding costs and energy consumption; or super -resistant electrolyzers, which are still under development. There is a third way. MIT researchers, Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University and Michigan State University joined forces to find an alternative that nicknamed the “triumph of sustainability.” The system, detailed in Energy & Environmental Scienceproduces green hydrogen directly from sea water. It does so using solar energy with impressive efficiency, and generating drinking water as a byproduct. How they have done it. Taking advantage of the entire solar spectrum. The central idea of ​​this new approach, officially called HSD-We (Hybrid Solar Distillion-Water Electrolysis), is to squeeze the maximum solar energy. We know that photovoltaic panels convert only part of sunlight into electricity (The most efficient are around 25% efficiency). The rest of the energy dissipates as a residual heat. What if that heat, instead of wasted, will be used for something useful? Eureka! Simpler than it seems. Like many other systems for the production of green hydrogen, the HSD-We integrates solar panels that turn light into electricity and an electroly of protons exchange membrane (PEM) that breaks down the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The secret is at the rear of the solar panels, they are where the HSD-We has an interfacial thermal distiller coupled that uses the residual heat of photovoltaic cells to evaporate seawater. A simple membrane that absorbs salt water. It is a genius. The best thing is that it works. The electricity of the solar panels directly feeds the electrolyz. At the same time, the residual heat of the panel heats sea water in the interfacial distiller, evaporating it. This pure water vapor (already without salt) is transported by a small air space to the electrolyz, where it is directly condensed in the anode, adding ultra -patrol water for electrolysis. The prototype, tested by the MIT both in laboratory conditions, under simulated sunlight, and outdoors, on a partially sunny day, threw impressive figures. They achieved 35.9 liters of dry hydrogen per square meter of solar panel per hour, using real sea water. In terms of efficiency, The system turned 12.6%a comparable rate or even above current green hydrogen production technologies with drinking water. Cheap hydrogen finally? Beyond technical feat, preliminary economic analysis is also promising. Not depending on external supplies of electricity or purified water, the operating cost is minimal, so the price of hydrogen produced with this system could drastically fall with the scale. While conventional electrolysis fueled by the electricity grid and using drinking water It costs about 10 per kilothis HSD-We system, in exchange for a slightly larger initial investment, could reach 5 dollars per kilo after 3 years of operation and lower the kilo at 1 dollar in 15 years. A price that would undoubtedly change the rules of the game. Image | Nickelgreen In Xataka | Europe waste so much renewable energy that needs green hydrogen. And the country that leads it is Spain

An Australian company has discovered “very encouraging” lithium and rubidium amounts in Salamanca. The potential is huge

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West of the province of Salamanca, near the border of Spain with Portugal, a finding that the Berkeley Australian company He has cataloged “very encouraging”. Significant amounts of lithium, essential for the manufacture of batteries, and rubidium, a scarce and strategic metal. The news. The Berkeley Energy mining group has found important concentrations of lithium and rubidium in a site in the province of Salamanca. These explorations are part of the Conchas project, which covers an area of ​​31 kilometers covered by sediments of the Cenozoic in the Ciudad Rodrigo region. The announcement, cataloged as “very encouraging” by the company, has fired its price 21% In the Australian bag. Why it is important. Lithium is the gold of the 21st century: an essential metal for the manufacture of batteries that has gone from feeding our electronic devices to boost electric vehicles and energy storage from renewable sources, so its demand is still increasing. But rubidium, in particular, is a metal of enormous strategic value. Because it is scarce and the time critical for sectors such as defense, medicine, telecommunications, Quantum computing and renewable energies. It is in atomic watches (GPS, missile guidance), photoelectric cells (night vision systems, Perosvkita solar panels), tomographies, ionic propulsion, data transmission … and its production is dominated by China. Now what. Berkeley has identified thick and shallow areas of lithium and rubidium, which facilitates its possible extraction, but not everything is said. The company will expand the polls and test the samples extracted to evaluate its metallurgical potential, a key step when determining the economic viability of the project. The results of these tests are expected to know this same quarter to define the following steps. It is not the only project. The Essential Metals Limited Australian company (Australia is one of the leading countries in lithium extraction) found high grade lithium to Villasrubias, a town in Salamanca that historically dedicated itself to tin extraction. “Perhaps it is the region, not only of Spain, but of Europe, which has the greatest number of critical raw materials identified, and that are listed by the European Union, due to their economic importance for the development of green energy and for the risk of dependence on third countries “, A project spokesman said. The environmental impact. Known for claiming one billion dollars in damages to the Spanish government after this prohibit the research and use of uraniumBerkeley has the support of the markets in the face of the discovery of lithium and rubidium, but will have to detail the environmental impact of its extraction if the project will continue. The extraction of lithium, in addition to altering the landscape, requires large amounts of water and can release heavy metals and acids in the soil. It would not be the first time that a project is filed for the risk for neighboring peoples, as has happened Until twice in Ávila Duela denunciation of environmental associations. Image | Bybyk (CC BY-CC 4.0), DNN87 (CC BY 3.0) In Xataka | In Salamanca there is a high -tech nuclear fuel bars factory that exports to all of Europe: we have visited it

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