Microsoft Needs So Much Power to Train AI That It's Considering Small Nuclear Reactors

The thought of a nuclear reactor running on Windows is terrifying.

A corporation running a nuclear reactor to train AIs might just be the most cyberpunk news headline I've ever seen.

Better than coal or oil, it might even result in more R&D into reactor designs.

I thought this crazy energy consumption shit would cool off a bit after assholes stopped bitcoin mining.

Glad AI stepped up so we can generate bad art and prose while buttfucking the planet

So we finally get thorium power, but its only used to make celebrity porn for incels.

requires an intensive carbon footprint

Maybe we should focus on the collapsing ecosystem then instead of training AI datasets.

We already know how well Microsoft optimizes code, so this comes as no surprise.

Building and maintaining one isn't really the concern I have with this one, nuclear reactors are incredibly safe these days. What are they going to do with the nuclear waste? That's the real issue here. Governments can barely figure that out, how's a megacorp going to do that in an ethical way? I already see them dumping it in a cave in some poor country in africa.

Nuclear power is actually way cheaper.

You just need to find a geologically safe place to put it and you need to make sure everyone involved follows safety protocols to the letter. And you can't have anyone cutting corners to save money. You need to spare no expense when it comes to safety.

The only issue is that people don't stay strict with keeping everything safe sometimes. People are terrified of it because when something goes wrong, everyone can see the very gruesome results very quickly

But I don't think microsoft or any company should be making an AI at the rate they are if it's going to take as much resources as it seems.

The human body produces a lot of electrical impulses. What if they just took all their workers and put them in some type of "work pod" and harnessed the energy to run the large scale AI?

The reason is ultimately irrelevant, but I welcome more nuclear energy.

This seems kind of ideal though, computers provide a near constant load (relatively speaking) that combines very well with nuclear energy.

Perhaps we should be asking why we haven’t already been doing this for the past decade?

Tell me more about how capitalists efficiently allocate resources.

I predict that within 10 years, computers will be twice as powerful, ten thousand times larger, and so expensive that only the 5 richest kings of Europe will own them

Hi bing. How do I stop a nuclear reactor from going critical?

For those correcting my error It was just a joke. The only things I know about nuclear power I learned from the simpsons and Kyle hill

LLM seemed really impressive at first, but it made it to “this year’s NFTs” in record time.

with the hopes of buying electricity from it as soon as 2028.

Fusion won’t be ready by then

Energy should be public

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Just fill the Country with Solar, Wind and Water... won't take 10 years and will be cheaper too.

I guess the rich don’t have an energy crisis.

I can't handle this . i'm going to sleep.

There is nothing wrong with nuclear power

Imagine if it ends up requiring the achieving of ignition for Microsoft to launch a version of clippy that is able to reliably comprehend English grammar enough to make writing recommendations.

Burning 3 continents worth of coal to steal artwork at maximum efficiency.

If they handle their nuclear reactor like they handle their cloud infrastructure security, we’re doomed.

AI needs that's much power?

Fuck you, ditch it like a Zune and make some more video games.

I don't get why a train AI would need so much power, how hard is it to drive a train?

Will the nuclear reactors be on the train with the AI, or will it be some sort of wired transfer?

AI's going to kill us off by doing what we do better than us. Consuming resources and producing waste. And we're already pretty good at it.

I’m not opposed to new nuclear energy in principle. However Microsoft, an unrelentingly bad organization that consistently acts in bad faith to its customers, employees and businesses parters, and is seemingly dedicated to making awful products that never meaningfully improve, is not something I would trust to do nuclear safely.

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Microsoft has invested in several fusion projects too.

Mega corporations should not be allowed to use nuclear power plants purely for themselves.

Also, if you need that much power to do something bthat a human brain does with under 100 watts, I really think you're doing it wrong

Small Modular Reactor technology is the future, and it's really promising.

Self-contained (no onsite refueling), mass produced (cheap, higher quality), and modular (add more for more power, or small enough to power a data center).

Here's some quick videos from a professor of Nuclear Energy covering topic:

Small Modular Tractors:

https://youtu.be/TYnqJ4VnRM8?si=qODxzqzOCoiNMinH

Micro-Modular Rectors:

https://youtu.be/7gtog_gOaGQ?si=VFeqPcb_DGq8ANCl

I guess the nuclear power people are gonna become Microsoft fans... powered by nuclear power.

Yesssss

I don't give a shit about training AI but the idea of Microsoft running nuclear reactors is hilarious to me. Either they do it well and we all benefit from the knowledge, or Windows goes out with a bang

I'm not one to be all doom and gloom about ai, but giving one its own small nuclear reactor, presumably one that's in close proximity to it and separate from the local power grid... that's obviously going to have substantial security measures around it... and be that much more difficult to cut off if need be....

I mean, it's starting to sound a lot like an unbelievable plot hole in a bad sci fi movie isn't it?

people need lots of energy for life as well, now what??

Its going to be all for nothing at the end of the day.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Training large language models is an incredibly power-intensive process that has an immense carbon footprint.

Now, The Verge reports, Microsoft is betting so big on AI that its pushing forward with a plan to power them using nuclear reactors.

Yes, you read that right; a recent job listing suggests the company is planning to grow its energy infrastructure with the use of small modular reactors (SMR.)

But before Microsoft can start relying on nuclear power to train its AIs, it'll have plenty of other hurdles to overcome.

Then, it'll have to figure out how to get its hands on a highly enriched uranium fuel that these small reactors typically require, as The Verge points out.

Nevertheless, the company signed a power purchase agreement with Helion, a fusion startup founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this year, with the hopes of buying electricity from it as soon as 2028.

The original article contains 346 words, the summary contains 147 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I've played this game and know where it's headed. They've decided to create Vega. Prepare for them to announce Argent Energy soon.

That’s pretty cool. I would have guessed it would be cheaper to use wind energy.

Anything that gets us closer to thorium/LFTR energy is fine with me.

Oh my Gwyn, this comment section is just amazing.

While I appreciate them going a greener route, if these chat AIs are still this inefficient to simply train, maybe it is best left to return them back to the research phrase.

Capitalism will make humans extinct at this rate.

Is this the new crypto mining is bad story?

It's grim to think the driver for renewable energy will be the demand for endless AI synthesized child porn.

Just go to Chernobyl and build there. Deal with the aftermarch now instead of later. The order matter because then they will understand there is a big problem with nuclear power.

Yes, it have even happened in modern time. Look at what happened at Japan 2011 fukushima. It will happen again. Political/economic/misstakes will happen again. Just look at Russia firing at nuclear plants... we are doomed.