Posts

Showing posts with the label LLMs

Is AI Cost Effective Relative To Human Beings?

Image
 The human brain runs on 20 to 30 watts. AI (large language models) model estimation consumes gigawatts. A teenager can learn to drive in a couple hours. In contrast, Tesla AI requires 10 billion miles of actual car driving data. And it still makes elementary driving errors like failing to stop for trains: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-22/nvidia-customers-notified-about-ai-related-price-hikes-above-15? So is betting the house on a resource-intensive, but second rate technology? Large language models appear too expensive and too mediocre in performance to be the future of AI.

Interest Rates Hit AI Service Firms

Image
Companies like SpaceX or Anthropic are issuing junk-rated debt at 1% to 2% interest rate premiums to government bonds or around 7% to 8% in total. This creates severe financial risk. Smart investors are no longer willing to buy equity in private or publicly traded AI companies because they know they are wildly overvalued. Funding will try up as these AI services simply don't generate sufficient revenues to justify trillions and trillions in capex. They are also not cost effective due to their high energy costs. Compare the power required to estimate an LLM relative to the human brain's modest 12 to 20 watts. It is not a contest.