AI compute is the new oil–and needs a new market

(economist.com)

12 points | by ijidak 2 hours ago ago

10 comments

  • vannevar 35 minutes ago

    AI compute is not the new oil. Demand for oil is very inelastic: it's very difficult to increase the thermodynamic efficiency of the physical processes that convert oil into energy. AI compute efficiency, on the other hand, is improving exponentially. AI will end up being just slightly more expensive than the raw electricity required to produce it.

    Data center demand right now has much more to do with private credit's demand for new deals, since the binge they went on around the pandemic led to the accumulation of a lot of bad debt and depreciating assets. Data centers are a tool for extracting money from insurance trusts and pension funds to prop up private credit and create debt-driven artificial "revenue" for the hyperscalers and Nvidia.

    • vatsachak 33 minutes ago

      Yeah AI is electricity, not oil. It's boring but it's already true.

      I'm building a side business and decided to go with open router because that's what AI is going to look like in the future. Just intelligence/$ everything else kind of not important.

      Unless, they solve the issue of model output diversity and Claude becomes very different from ChatGPT

      • EGreg 30 minutes ago

        [flagged]

  • Avicebron an hour ago

    AI has to take us where We want to go before its compute can be considered on par with oil.

  • j16sdiz 13 minutes ago

    infrastructure project big enough to affect qol in neighborhood: checked

    corruption: checked

    regulatory capture: in progress

    Ya, the new oil.

  • 35 minutes ago
    [deleted]
  • vdfs 32 minutes ago

    "We need a market for the largest capex in history"

    • teeray 23 minutes ago

      "Why will nobody buy my Tulips?"

  • aaron695 an hour ago

    [dead]

  • BatchJob an hour ago

    AI news is the new IDGAF and needs a new website.