Welcome to the October issue of Materials World

The insatiable demand for artificial intelligence (AI) is laid bare in the following statistic. A report from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health reveals that when OpenAI released ChatGPT in 2022, it surpassed one million users in five days, reaching 100 million in under two months. By mid-2025, around 700 million people were using the platform, generating 18 billion queries each week. 

Then comes another eye-watering stat. Goldman Sachs Research reports that the average ChatGPT query eats up nearly 10 times as much electricity as a Google search. This is of course just talking about one AI platform, but acts as a microcosm for a bigger picture explored in our feature.

At an event on ‘Next steps for AI and the energy sector’, one of the speakers summarised, 'Artificial intelligence is the fastest-ever rolled-out technology in the history of humanity, because the internet allows it to penetrate so quickly [and]…that’s one of the explanations for why you need large data centres.'

And these data centres are as hungry for energy as they are data, and therein lies the paradox. The AI platforms designed to improve productivity and efficiency are ramping up energy consumption at the very time we are seeking to decarbonise, and this demand growth cannot be ignored in the narrative around the energy transition.

This extends beyond operational energy use to the emissions intensity of the electricity grid in different regions, as well as the manufacturers who make the microchips that power AI and data centres. 

But there’s no scope to slow down. Bringing a national perspective, one of the interviewees in the article asserts, 'It’s vital we find the energy to power AI data centres, or the UK will slip behind'.

We hope you enjoy this issue. 

Rupal Mehta, Editor