It’s no secret that AI models like those behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT require an astronomical amount of electricity. The process is ludicrously energy intensive, with experts estimating that the industry could soon suck up as much electricity as an entire country. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is looking for cheaper alternatives. During a Bloomberg event at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the billionaire suggested that the AI models of tomorrow may require even more power — to the degree that they’ll need a whole new power source. “There’s no way to get there without a breakthrough,” Altman told audiences, as quoted by Reuters. “It motivates us to go invest more in fusion,” adding that we need better ways to store energy from solar power. Altman is conjuring up one of the most hotly discussed topics in energy production today. Fusion energy has long been seen as the holy grail, representing a hypothetically limitless source of energy without the risks associated with nuclear fission. Despite many decades of research, though, scientists have yet to figure out a way to fuse atoms in a way that produces a net positive amount of energy at scale. Unperturbed, billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel and Bill Gates have poured substantial amounts of money into the idea. Altman himself invested some $375 million in a nuclear fusion company called Helion Energy back in 2021. Conveniently, the company has since signed a partnership with Microsoft, the tech…Sam Altman Says AI Using Too Much Energy, Will Require Breakthrough Energy Source