Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta all together could not get anything done as companies
Google's biggest revenue stream is advertisement
Amazon's biggest revenue stream is data hosting for national militaries and police forces.
Microsoft's biggest revenue stream is subscriptions to software that was functionally complete 20 years ago
Meta's biggest revenue stream is ads again
So 72-TWh of energy spent on Ads, Surveillance, Subscriptions, and Ads.
Absolute power consumption does matter, but global power consumption is approximately 160,000 TWh
If these firms were operating steel foundries or airlines at 72-TWh, I would applaud them for their efficiency. Shame they're not producing anything of material value.
The more context I add in to the picture, the less I’m worried about AI in particular.
Its not for you to worry about. The decision to rapidly consume cheap energy and potable water is entirely beyond your control. Might as well find a silver lining in the next hurricane.