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Brandon Wang is vice president of Synopsys.

The rapid development of AI has led to significant growth across the computing industry. But it is also causing a huge increase in energy consumption, which is leading us into an energy crisis. Current AI models, especially large language models (LLMs), need huge amounts of power to train and run. AI queries require much more energy than traditional searches; for example, asking ChatGPT a question consumes up to 25 times as much energy as a Google search. At current rates of growth, AI is expected to account for up to 3.5% of global electricity demand by 2030, twice as much as the country of France.

We need to address this issue urgently before it becomes unsustainable. If we don’t, the impact could threaten sustainable growth and the widespread adoption of AI technologies themselves. Fortunately, there are a number of pathways toward more energy-efficient AI systems and computing architectures.

We asked a professional comedian to deliver some jokes written by artificial intelligence on stage. What happened reveals a lot about just how much machines understand the very human sense of humour.

Karen Hobbs was more nervous than usual before this particular gig. A well-known circuit comedian, she’s accustomed to the UK’s often bruising stand-up comedy scene. It’s eclectic, unpredictable and famously short on pity-laughs. Hobbs has tackled some of the most unforgiving rooms in Britain, from major London theatres to the back rooms of rural pubs. She has even triumphed within the dreaded competition circuit, in which a merciless audience votes in a gladiatorial popularity contest for the funniest gags.

But this Thursday night in late June, above the Covent Garden Social Club bar in Central London, Hobbs was about to attempt something totally new. She would take to the stage equipped not with her usual material, but with a stand-up set written for her by the AI platform ChatGPT. Most daunting of all, she would follow three comedians doing their actual, human material.

When I have described my rationale for the likelihood of the Economic Singularity, key to this has been the ability of this new form of machine intelligence to make decisions and to make plans.


SummaryTatiana Mamut, co-founder of Wayfound AI, explains that AI agents are like human workers with the ability to interact and make decisions on their own…

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Emerging technologies of today have the power to reshape industries, achieve significant scale, and shift the economic landscape.

From AI-driven advancements in disease detection to carbon-capturing microbes, these technologies stand to improve future society. Meanwhile, greater efficiencies in wireless connectivity allow networks to drive higher data rates and enhance robust communications across 6G networks and the industrial internet-of-things.