A nature-driven solution for more efficient AI

Over its lifetime, the average car is responsible for emitting about 126,000 pounds of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2). Compare those emissions with the carbon footprint left behind by artificial intelligence (AI) technology. In 2019, training top-of-the-line artificial intelligence was responsible for more than 625,000 pounds of CO2 emissions. AI energy requirements have only gotten bigger since. To reduce AI's energy footprint, Shantanu Chakrabartty, the Clifford W. Murphy Professor at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has reported a prototype of a new kind of computer memory.