Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu responds to Sam Altman, questions AI energy narrative

The co-founder and chief scientist of Zoho Corporation, Sridhar Vembu’s response to a statement by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has brought renewed attention to how artificial intelligence (AI) is framed in discussions about energy use and environmental repercussions.

Altman recently addressed concerns about the environmental footprint of AI systems, particularly the electricity required to train and operate large models. In explaining the scale of AI energy consumption, he drew a comparison between the resources required to train AI models and the long-term energy and food consumption involved in raising and educating a human being.

“People talk about how much energy it takes to train an AI model. But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes about 20 years of life — and all the food you consume during that time — before you become smart," the OpenAI CEO told The Indian Express in a podcast during the India AI Impact Summit which concluded last week.

To this, Vembu responded publicly, rejecting the analogy between machines and humans. In a post on X, he wrote that he does not want to see technology equated with human beings.

Vembu wrote, “I do not want to see a world where we equate a piece of technology to a human being.” He further stated that technology should not dominate people’s lives and should remain a tool that supports human activity rather than overshadow it.  

“I work hard as a technologist to see a world where we don’t allow technology to dominate our lives, instead it should quietly recede into the background,” Vembu wrote. His philosophical position emphasises that technology should help cater to human needs and values, rather than technology replacing people.

Altman says renewable sources would help manage AI energy footprint

Meanwhile, Altman has also addressed related criticisms about AI infrastructure, including online claims regarding water usage in data centres. He labelled exaggerated figures about per-query water or energy use as inaccurate and reiterated that the energy footprint of AI should be managed through transitions to renewable sources such as wind, solar, or nuclear power.