Electricity regulators warn that the rapid growth of AI could cause power blackouts in the US and Canada as early as this year. AI services, including ChatGPT and Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, are driving a doubling of data center power usage over four years. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) cites “critical reliability challenges” as power generation struggles to meet surging demand, with data centers projected to consume over 1,000 terawatt hours by 2026. The shift from fossil fuels to renewables has further strained grids, with the US Midwest likely to face outages first.
Source: 9to5Mac
