As businesses increasingly integrate artificial intelligence into their operations, the demand for power is set to surge dramatically.
Roundtable anchor Rob Nelson sat down with Steve Gutterman, CEO of Gryphon Digital Mining , to discuss the implications of this shift and how industries like bitcoin mining could play a pivotal role in supporting the burgeoning energy requirements.
When asked about the actual changes we're witnessing beyond the simplistic fears of AI taking over jobs, Steve Gutterman emphasized, "More and more businesses will use AI for some form of their business, and to support that, power is the name of the game."
Gutterman highlighted the staggering increase in energy demand, stating, "By 2030, some estimates are that we will need 50 gigawatts of incremental power to support AI databases ... 50 gigawatts is the equivalent to powering an incremental 50 million households."
Rob Nelson expressed surprise at the figure, noting, "I actually was surprised you said 50 million. I thought it would be more than that." Gutterman clarified the enormity of the demand: "That's almost half the power that we currently have in the whole U.S. just to power AI data centers."
Discussing the role of bitcoin mining in meeting this demand, Nelson asked, "Why can bitcoin mining play such an important role in supporting that massive power increased demand we're going to have?" Gutterman responded, "Bitcoin mining is going to be highly relevant and highly profitable over the next several years, and it forms a nice bridge to some of the AI computing."
Gutterman also pointed out a broader industry shift, stating, "There's a kind of philosophical shift that occurs when you're thinking about bitcoin or AI, and it's that things are moving from the physical to the non-physical. Whether it's currency or shopping or AI computing or database management generally."