Why AI is going nuclear
If you’re of a certain age, the words “nuclear energy” probably conjure up dystopian images of power plants melting down, glowing radioactive waste, protesters, and other dark scenes ranging from the unfortunate to apocalyptic.
The truth is, nuclear power’s reputation has been mostly unfairly blemished since 1970s and ’80s thanks to the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl meltdowns in Pennsylvania and Ukraine (at that time, part of the Soviet Union), respectively. While terrible, these disasters belie nuclear energy’s true safety record, which is actually much better for humans and of course, the environment, than most other power sources — even renewables, and even accounting for the fact that nuclear waste needs to go somewhere.
Now in the year 2024, some of the largest technology companies on Earth are ready to embrace nuclear power again — and the reason is because of artificial intelligence (AI).
Looking over the last 9-10 months, and in particular, the last few weeks, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all announced large-scale commitments to buy, invest in, and/or help build new nuclear power plants. It’s no coincidence these rivals are the three top providers of cloud computing and cloud storage solutions in the world, and have also been among the biggest to embrace and provide AI models and technology to customers, both other businesses and end-users.
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