Peter Rhodes on reading, writing and the “dirty little secret” behind Artificial Intelligence
The Artificial Human (Radio 4, BBC iPlayer ) is a timely investigation into a “dirty little secret” of the cyber industry, the massive amounts of electrical power it consumes.
For example, the latest search programs using Artificial Intelligence can consume 30 times more energy than a standard search engine, and the global data industry is already gobbling up five per cent of the world's power production. Boffins are creating AI machines which, in theory, could one day solve pollution and find cures for cancer. They are brilliant devices - but can we afford to switch them on?
Only five marks out of ten, I'm afraid, for the teaching unions urging the Government to stop testing primary pupils on their times tables and to scrap intensive grammar exams.
