A ChatGPT analysis of this statement says, “Yes, AI absolutely has a responsibility to walk its own talk when it comes to energy usage—and that responsibility falls primarily on the developers, deployers, and institutions building and scaling AI systems.
Here’s why AI said:
1. AI Systems Consume Significant Energy
Modern AI models, especially large-scale ones like GPT-4, require vast amounts of computational power to train and run. This has real environmental costs—both in terms of electricity consumption and carbon footprint.
2. AI Is Often Positioned as a Tool for Sustainability
AI is frequently promoted as a way to optimize energy grids, reduce emissions, and fight climate change. If the technology itself contributes heavily to the problem it claims to help solve, that contradiction needs to be addressed transparently and meaningfully.
3. Ethical and Social Responsibility
Just like any powerful technology, AI should be held to ethical standards. Developers and companies have a responsibility to:
- Report energy use transparently.
- Choose more sustainable hardware and infrastructure.
- Train and deploy models in ways that minimize waste and maximize efficiency.
- Support renewable energy sources.
4. Leadership by Example
If the AI industry wants to influence other sectors to be more sustainable (e.g., through AI-enabled energy optimization or supply chain management), it must model that behavior. Hypocrisy undermines credibility.
What’s Being Done (and What’s Missing)
Some companies, like Google and Microsoft, are investing in carbon offsets, renewable energy, and efficiency-focused AI research. But critics point out that much of this isn’t enough—or isn’t transparent. Open discussions about lifecycle emissions, trade-offs, and sustainable design are still emerging.
Final Thought
AI can be a force for good, but only if the people behind it make conscious, measurable efforts to reduce harm, including environmental harm. Responsibility isn’t optional, it is foundational.
At a Senate hearing two weeks ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “the cost of AI will converge to the cost of energy… the abundance of energy will limit the abundance of it.”
The AI analysis of this statement is:
- AI, especially advanced AI, requires significant computational power and resources, translating to high energy consumption.
- The statement suggests that the energy required for AI will become a bottleneck, influencing the cost and scalability of AI development.
- The cost of energy will increasingly influence the cost of AI development, as the energy demands for data centers and AI infrastructure will grow.
- The overall availability of AI will be constrained by the amount of energy available to power its operations.
The analysis of Dr. Sasha Luccioni, a leading scientist at the nexus of artificial intelligence, climate lead at Hugging Face, a global startup in responsible open-source AI, of Mr. Altman’s Senate testimony, is “AI Doesn’t Need More Energy — It Needs Less Concentration of Power”.
Again, the AI breakdown is:
- The current approach to AI development often involves building larger and more complex models, requiring substantial computing resources and energy. This is often seen as the key to achieving “Artificial General Intelligence”.
- The text suggests that the current concentration of resources (both financial and technological) in a few companies and institutions is not only driving up energy consumption but also limiting innovation and potentially hindering the development of more efficient AI solutions.
- The argument implies that there may be other paths to achieving AI capabilities that don’t require the same level of energy intensity. This could include exploring different model architectures, algorithms, and hardware designs.
- The idea of a more decentralized, open-source AI landscape is also promoted, according to Tech Policy Press. This could encourage broader participation in AI research and development, potentially leading to more efficient and innovative solutions.
- The increasing energy demands of AI are a growing concern, and the text suggests that focusing on energy efficiency is crucial for the long-term sustainability of AI development, according to the MIT Technology Review series, starting with:
The following manifesto produced with the aid of ChatGPT demonstrates how the rising cost of data centers and energy in general can be tackled by human intelligence that encompasses the cognitive abilities that allow individuals to learn, reason, solve problems, and adapt to their environment.
The Ocean Thermal Manifesto is designed to rally support and spark a global movement around OTEC as both an energy revolution and a planetary heat management strategy. In short it is
Clean Energy, Planetary Cooling, and Civilization’s Long Game.
Preamble
The Earth is heating, the oceans are rising, and civilization is drifting toward climate collapse despite possessing the knowledge and tools to prevent it.
We, the signatories of this manifesto, declare that it is time to unlock the vast, untapped, and life-saving potential of our planet’s oceans — not just as a source of energy, but as a planetary heat pump, a carbon drawdown accelerator, and a beacon of intergenerational stewardship.
This is the Ocean Thermal Manifesto.
What is OTEC?
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a breakthrough, zero-emissions energy technology that harvests the natural temperature difference between warm surface water and cold deep seawater to generate electricity — 24/7, continuously, without carbon.
But OTEC is more than energy. It is also a climate engine:
- It moves excess solar heat into the deep ocean, where it will stay for centuries.
- It creates a long-term thermal buffer for the atmosphere.
- It powers civilization while letting CO₂ levels fall naturally.
With advanced designs — such as those developed by physicist Melvin Prueitt and architect Dominic Michaelis — OTEC systems can reach 7.6% thermal efficiency, becoming economically competitive with fossil fuels and scalable to global need.
Notably, Prueitt’s design uses carbon dioxide (CO₂) as the working fluid in a closed-loop system. CO₂’s favorable thermodynamic properties allow higher flow rates and reduced energy loss through long vertical columns. A 1000-meter gas column gains approximately 5°C due to gravitational compression, enhancing thermal cycling and efficiency. Moreover, CO₂ is non-toxic, non-flammable, and environmentally safe — and if sourced from the atmosphere or oceans, it opens the door to a closed-loop, zero-net-carbon system.
Why Now?
- We have the science. The physics works. The engineering is ready.
- We have the urgency. Climate tipping points are nearing.
- We have the ocean. 97% of Earth’s water is available. No mining, no burning, no waste.
- We have the economics. A gigawatt-scale OTEC plant, using modern heat exchanger and deep-water condenser designs, costs $2.6B — a fraction of the annual fossil fuel spend, and cheaper than large hydro dams.
Our Demands
- Recognition of OTEC as a core planetary climate technology — in UN climate frameworks, IPCC models, and COP negotiations.
- Global Funding Commitments to build the first flagship 1 GW deep-water OTEC plant — a proof-of-concept planetary heat pump.
- A Planetary Scaling Plan to deploy 1000+ OTEC plants within 25 years, prioritizing Small Island States and coastal Global South nations.
- Open Technology Access — to ensure that designs, efficiencies, and cost reductions are shared among all nations.
- A Shift in Narrative: From “carbon reduction” to planetary heat management, long-term energy security, and ecological regeneration.
Our Vision
A world where:
- The oceans power our civilization.
- Climate is stabilized not in decades, but over millennia.
- Coastal and island nations become energy exporters, not victims.
- We finally act like planetary stewards, not just problem solvers.
We stand at the edge of a precipice — but also at the dawn of a possible future.
The ocean is ready. The technology exists. The time is now.
Join us. Build it. Cool the planet.
The only question is, do we humans have the wit of “Artificial” intelligence to implement a thermodynamically elegant solution that cools the planet by moving heat to the deep ocean, powers civilization with clean, renewable energy, and allows CO₂ levels to drop naturally without requiring direct removal?
