Artificial Intelligence continues to advance without limits. Microsoft, despite already having Copilot in its ecosystem, would be working on the development of a cheaper and lighter AI, according to recent leaks within the industry. This implies that the company wants to create an alternative path to the one set by Open AI with its current GPT-4.
One of the biggest problems of Artificial Intelligence today is that it consumes huge amounts of energy, which also entails a high environmental and economic cost in its service and maintenance work. For that reason, Microsoft is looking for a way to reduce the cost of a technological niche that has recently grown by leaps and bounds.
A Smaller and Sustainable AI
According to The Information, Microsoft would be planning to design a more efficient Artificial Intelligence with similar functionalities to those that AI’s are capable of performing today. In fact, it would have been moving many developers to this project with the aim of having the new system with lower energy requirements than what AI usually has today.
Reducing the hardware requirements for AI would allow Microsoft to not only save a lot of money on energy and maintenance costs, but also reduce the carbon footprint and environmental impact of these systems, which have been at the forefront of technology in recent times. Despite the magnitude of these advances, they are still far from having the sustainability that many other systems possess.
The growing energy problem
That cutting-edge technologies consume high amounts of energy is not really something new. In fact, during the crypto-mining fever of recent years, it was shown how this activity could consume more energy than entire developed countries. AI has a similar problem that involves high amounts of energy and a lot of water to properly cool servers and systems.
In recent months, in fact, Microsoft has stated that it is in favor of nuclear energy to harness energy in the subsequent development of Artificial Intelligence, something that has very conflicting positions, due to the energy efficiency it possesses compared to the dangerous radioactive waste it generates. There has always been intense debate about this energy model, which is currently supported by countries like France or the United Kingdom but rejected in others like Germany or Spain.
