Page 32 - The Annual AI Governance Report 2025 Steering the Future of AI

The Annual AI Governance Report 2025: Steering the Future of AI

user of around 7.2 kWh. This corresponds to a 10 km car drive, or 5 hot showers of 5 minutes, or
2 hot baths. Typical chatbot use – so far – therefore requires only negligible amounts of energy. Infrastructure Theme 5: AI
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See, for example, the estimated energy consumption per ChatGPT query compared to everyday
electricity.

However, this doesn’t mean we can ignore the energy implications of AI. Imagine a future where
each person is assisted by hundreds of AI agents, constantly making requests to solve problems
we haven't even conceived of yet. For a back-of-the-envelope calculation, let us use the estimate
of 0.2 watt-hours (Wh) per chatbot request and consider a scenario where 1 billion people each
use 10 AI agents, with each agent making 1,000 requests per day. . That results in:
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0.2 Wh × 1,000 requests/day × 10 agents × 1 billion users = 2 × 10¹² Wh/day = 2 terawatt-hours
(TWh)/day.

For context, the world’s total electricity consumption is around 80 TWh per day, which accounts
for about 20% of total global energy use.

And even this estimate may be conservative. Why stop at 10 agents per person ? If individuals
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used 100 agents, the energy demands would scale dramatically—quickly approaching levels
that could rival the world’s total current energy consumption.

Even as the carbon intensity of energy infrastructure decreases, it is unlikely that the suddenness
of this demand is met by sustainable energy sources; even if new increases in energy can be
met with sustainable sources, the growth in energy needs indicates that reduction of fossil fuel

117 Salathé, M., (2025). AI’s Energy Use
118 Salathé, M., (2025). AI’s Energy Use
119 Salathé, M., (2025). AI’s Energy Use

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