New research from Pure Storage has revealed yet another obstacle standing between businesses and their deployment of AI tools – power consumption.
According to the research of 500 IT buyers across the US, UK, and Europe, nearly half (47%) have had to double (or more) their computing power since adopting AI, in turn having a knock-on effect on their energy usage.
Of those that have already started using artificial intelligence, three-quarters (73%) weren’t completely prepared for the new energy requirements they’d have to meet.
AI is even more power-hungry than you thought
Nine in 10 (88%) of the IT buyers surveyed said that their need for computing power had gone up dramatically after adopting AI, but Pure Storage found there to be even more upgrades needed in order for companies to benefit from AI.
Upgrades to data management tools, data management processes, and data storage infrastructure also affected between four and five in 10 respondents.
Pure Storage CTO Rob Lee said: “As power and data demands increase exponentially in the age of AI, investing in and deploying the right AI-ready data infrastructure is not only essential to effective deployment and energy efficiency, but to driving the most value out of AI projects.”
Moving forward, an overwhelming majority (96%) either have or will upgrade their IT infrastructure in order to accommodate advancements in artificial intelligence, with almost one-third (29%) believing that they would need to carry out a complete overhaul.
Already, data centers have been subjected to intense scrutiny for their heavy use of energy and other natural resources. This study only serves to highlight the wider impacts that artificial intelligence is having across all areas of deployment.
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