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

(economist.com)

12 points | by ijidak 1 hour ago

7 comments

  • vannevar 33 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 30 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 28 minutes ago
        [flagged]
  • Avicebron 1 hour ago
    AI has to take us where We want to go before its compute can be considered on par with oil.
  • j16sdiz 11 minutes ago
    infrastructure project big enough to affect qol in neighborhood: checked

    corruption: checked

    regulatory capture: in progress

    Ya, the new oil.

  • vdfs 29 minutes ago
    "We need a market for the largest capex in history"
    • teeray 21 minutes ago
      "Why will nobody buy my Tulips?"
  • aaron695 54 minutes ago
    [dead]
  • BatchJob 1 hour ago
    AI news is the new IDGAF and needs a new website.