Google is worried about AI power failures – so it wants to train electricians
Google has said it will invest in training electricians in the US as part of efforts to shore up power systems needed to feed energy hungry AI models.
The move comes as the rise of AI has sparked concerns about its massive energy use and whether existing power systems can keep up with the skyrocketing demand.
Google announced the move in a whitepaper, Powering A New Era of American Innovation, which includes 15 of what the company calls “policy opportunities”.
That includes ideas to boost American power infrastructure, including alternative sources of energy, boosting the grid, and investing in building a pipeline of necessary skilled labor.
The whitepaper also called for heightened investment in carbon capture as well as investigating geothermal, natural gas, and advanced nuclear as sources, with Google saying approvals for work and other permits needed to be expedited.
A key talking point centered around upgrades to electricity grids to meet sharp demands as a result of AI.
“By unlocking advanced electricity resources and grid infrastructure, the United States would enable all sources of electricity to contribute to a more reliable and affordable energy future,” Google said in a blog post.
“They now require constructive public and private collaboration to advance.”
In the paper, Google pointed to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last year tripling its five-year demand forecast, with energy demand from AI driving 15-90 gigawatts of new US data centre demand by 2030.
That said, Google also mentioned that energy intensity for AI workloads was decreasing by a fifth each year, down to improvements in hardware and models.
Google’s big recruitment drive
Google said getting power networks and supply ready to meet the looming demand of AI needed effort now, pointing to a McKinsey estimate that suggested an additional 130,000 electrical workers would be needed by 2030 to build out data centers and manufacturing in the coming years.
But only 7,000 people enter the field annually and around 10,000 depart through retirement or career changes.
“In particular, a shortage of electrical workers may constrain America’s ability to build the infrastructure needed to support AI, advanced manufacturing and a shift to clean energy,” Google said in the blog post.
To address that, Google said its charitable arm, Google.Org, would financially support training for 100,000 electrical workers and a further 30,000 new apprentices via the electrical training Alliance (etA), an educational group created by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the National Electrical Contractors Association.
Reports from Reuters suggest the funding could total around $10 million annually. That support will help the etA increase the number of electrical workers available by 70% within five years, Google said.
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