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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Technology

Zuckerberg and Musk Call for More AI Data Centres and Power

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk told a G20 technology ministers’ meeting that expanding artificial intelligence requires more data centres, skilled workers and electricity.
  • Zuckerberg said the construction boom could create hundreds of thousands or millions of skilled-trade jobs, while Musk warned of a near-term power shortfall.
  • Their comments came as opposition to US data-centre construction grows because of concerns about electricity costs and noise.

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk delivered the same message from different angles at a G20 meeting on artificial intelligence: the technology cannot expand without much more infrastructure.

hundreds of thousands and maybe millions of jobs

— Mark ZuckerbergZuckerberg described the potential employment impact of building AI data centres.

Zuckerberg, Meta’s chairman and chief executive, said the data-centre buildout could create “hundreds of thousands and maybe millions of jobs” in the skilled trades. But he also said Meta could not find enough skilled workers for the facilities it is trying to build because demand had become so large.

Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX, focused on electricity. He described a “crisis of power” in the AI buildout and warned that the United States could face a major shortfall as soon as next year. Musk said his company was building the generation capacity needed to support its data centres.

What we’ve basically found at Meta is that we… can’t find the skilled tradespeople that we need to build the data centers… that we as one company are trying to build

— Mark ZuckerbergHe said Meta faced difficulty finding enough skilled workers for its construction plans.

The virtual remarks came during a meeting in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, organized by the White House. The administration has sought to keep the AI revolution largely free of government rules and scrutiny, even as resistance to new data centres grows in the United States. Polls cited at the meeting show that most Americans oppose building the facilities, amid complaints about higher electricity bills and noise.

There will be a significant power shortfall next year, not the distant future

— Elon MuskMusk warned that electricity supplies could soon fall short of AI data-centre demand.

Musk predicted that AI could expand the global economy by 20% to 30%, or roughly $20 trillion to $30 trillion a year. Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis said human-level AI could have ten times the impact of the Industrial Revolution, while adding that the opportunity must be pursued responsibly. Nvidia chief Jensen Huang and OpenAI chief Sam Altman were expected to join the meeting in person the following day.

It’s a huge opportunity that we have to grasp… but we’ve got to do that in a responsible way

— Demis HassabisThe Google DeepMind chief described the potential of human-level AI while calling for responsible development.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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