Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
Everything comes at a cost, and AI is no different. While ChatGPT and Gemini may be free to use, they require a staggering amount of computational power to operate. And if that wasn’t enough, Big Tech is currently engaged in an arms race to build bigger and better models like GPT-5. Critics argue that this growing demand for powerful — and energy-intensive — hardware will have a devastating impact on climate change. So just how much energy does AI like ChatGPT use and what does this electricity use mean from an environmental perspective? Let’s break it down.