{"id":853474,"date":"2025-06-05T05:13:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T10:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/05\/the-download-ais-role-in-math-and-calculating-its-energy-footprint\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T05:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T10:13:12","slug":"the-download-ais-role-in-math-and-calculating-its-energy-footprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/05\/the-download-ais-role-in-math-and-calculating-its-energy-footprint\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: AI\u2019s role in math, and calculating its energy footprint"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for AI and math<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The modern world is built on mathematics. Math lets us model complex systems such as the way air flows around an aircraft, the way financial markets fluctuate, and the way blood flows through the heart. Mathematicians have used computers for decades, but the new vision is that AI might help them crack problems that were previously uncrackable.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s a huge difference between AI that can solve the kinds of problems set in high school\u2014math that the latest generation of models has already mastered\u2014and AI that could (in theory) solve the kinds of problems that professional mathematicians spend careers chipping away at.\u00a0Here are three ways to understand that gulf<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014Will Douglas Heaven<\/em>This story is from our What\u2019s Next series, which looks across industries, trends, and technologies to give you a first look at the future. You can read the rest of them\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Inside the effort to tally AI\u2019s energy appetite<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u2014James O’Donnell<\/em><\/p>\n

After working on it for months, my colleague Casey Crownhart and I finally saw our story on AI\u2019s energy and emissions burden go live last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The initial goal sounded simple: Calculate how much energy is used when we interact with a chatbot, then tally that up to understand why leaders in tech and politics are so keen to harness unprecedented levels of electricity to power AI and reshape our energy grids in the process.<\/p>\n

It was, of course, not so simple. After speaking with dozens of researchers, we realized that the common understanding of AI\u2019s energy appetite is full of holes. I encourage you to\u00a0read the full story<\/a>, which has some incredible graphics to help you understand this topic.\u00a0But here are three takeaways I have after the project<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get it in your inbox first,\u00a0sign up here<\/a>, and check out the\u00a0rest of our Power Hungry package about AI here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 Elon Musk has turned on Trump\u00a0<\/strong>
He called Trump\u2019s domestic policy agenda a \u201cdisgusting abomination.\u201d (NYT<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0House Speaker Mike Johnson has, naturally, hit back.<\/em>\u00a0(Insider<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n

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2 NASA is in crisis<\/strong>
Its budget has been cut by a quarter, and now its new leader has had his nomination revoked. (New Scientist<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0What\u2019s next for NASA\u2019s giant moon rocket?<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 Here\u2019s how Big Tech plans to wield AI<\/strong>
To build \u2018everything apps\u2019 that keep you inside their ecosystem, forever. (The Atlantic<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0The trouble is, the experience isn\u2019t always slick enough, as Google has discovered with its \u2018Ask Photos\u2019 feature<\/em>. (The Verge<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0How to fight your instinct to blindly trust AI.<\/em>\u00a0(WP<\/a>\u00a0$)<\/p>\n

4 Meta has signed a 20-year deal to buy nuclear power\u00a0<\/strong>
It\u2019s the latest in a race to try to keep up with AI\u2019s surging energy demands. (ABC<\/a>)
+\u00a0Can nuclear power really fuel the rise of AI?<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)\u00a0<\/p>\n

5 Extreme heat takes a huge toll on people\u2019s mental health<\/strong>
It\u2019s yet another issue we\u2019re failing to prepare for, as summers get hotter and hotter. (Scientific American<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0The quest to protect farmworkers from extreme heat.\u00a0<\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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6 China\u2019s robotaxi companies are planning to expand in the Middle East\u00a0<\/strong>
And they\u2019re getting a warmer welcome than in the US or Europe. (WSJ<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0China\u2019s EV giants are also betting big on humanoid robots.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 AI will supercharge hackers<\/strong>
The full impact of new AI techniques is yet to be felt, but experts say it\u2019s only a matter of time. (Wired<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0Five ways criminals are using AI.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

8 It\u2019s an exciting time to be working on Alzheimer\u2019s treatments\u00a0????<\/strong>
12 of them are moving to the final phase of clinical trials this year. (The Economist<\/a>\u00a0$)
+\u00a0The innovation that gets an Alzheimer\u2019s drug through the blood-brain barrier.<\/em>\u00a0(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 Workers are being subjected to more and more surveillance<\/strong>
Not just in the gig economy either\u2014\u2019bossware\u2019 is increasingly appearing in offices too. (Rest of World<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

10 Noughties nostalgia is rife on TikTok<\/strong>
It was a pretty fun decade, to be fair. (The Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThis is scientific heaven. Or it used to be.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014Tom Rapoport, a 77-year-old Harvard Medical School professor from Germany, expresses his sadness about Trump\u2019s cuts to US science funding to the\u00a0New York Times<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One more thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"Long<\/p>\n

OLCF<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

What\u2019s next for the world\u2019s fastest supercomputers<\/h3>\n
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When the Frontier supercomputer came online in 2022, it marked the dawn of so-called exascale computing, with machines that can execute an exaflop\u2014or a quintillion (1018) floating point operations a second.<\/p>\n

Since then, scientists have geared up to make more of these blazingly fast computers: several exascale machines are due to come online in the US and Europe.<\/p>\n

But speed itself isn\u2019t the endgame. Researchers hope to pursue previously unanswerable questions about nature\u2014and to design new technologies in areas from transportation to medicine.\u00a0Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2014Sophia Chen<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>skeet ’em at me<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ If tracking tube trains in London is your thing, you\u2019ll love this\u00a0live map<\/a>.
+ Take a truly bonkers trip down memory lane, courtesy of these\u00a0FBI artifacts<\/a>.
+ Netflix\u2019s\u00a0Frankenstein<\/a>\u00a0looks pretty intense.
+ Why\u00a0landlines<\/a>\u00a0are so darn spooky ????<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Charlotte Jee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is today’s edition of\u00a0The Download ,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. What\u2019s next for AI and math The modern world is built on mathematics. Math lets us model complex systems such as the way air flows around an aircraft, the way financial markets<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":853475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83232,24097,46],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-853474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ais","8":"category-download","9":"category-technology"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}