IEA Executive Director addresses world leaders on crucial AI-energy nexus at international summit chaired by France and India

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol today addressed leaders from around the world at the French government’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, highlighting the deep links between AI and energy and stressing the need for greater cooperation among the energy industry, the tech sector and policy makers as the development and uptake of AI accelerates.

Dr Birol spoke to an audience including French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who jointly chaired the event, along with many other leaders such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, United States Vice President JD Vance, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, and CEOs including Google’s Sundar Pichai and Naver’s Choi Soo-yeon. In his remarks, Dr Birol highlighted the many opportunities presented by AI, as well as the risk that AI progress could be hampered if the necessary energy infrastructure is not planned and built out at an adequate pace.

“There is no AI without energy – specifically electricity. Thousands of data centres are set to be built in the next five years. But our analysis at the IEA shows that unless the energy industry, tech sector and governments collaborate to deliver the necessary power infrastructure, many projects could be delayed or even cancelled,” Dr Birol said. “That is why bringing together companies and energy policy makers is so strategic and important, and why the IEA will continue to work with leaders around the world on this essential issue.”

AI is quickly emerging as one of the most consequential technologies of our time. According to IEA analysis, investment in data centre construction has doubled in the past two years in key markets. One AI-focused data centre can consume as much power as 100,000 households. At the same time, AI holds enormous promise for the energy sector; it can help better predict weather patterns, speed up the development of new battery chemistries and optimise the operation of electricity grids, for example.

The IEA has been strengthening its work on energy and AI to ensure the energy sector plays a supportive role in the AI revolution. In December, the Agency hosted a first-of-its-kind Global Conference on Energy and AI, which convened leaders from the energy industry, the tech sector, government and civil society and helped to lay the foundation for the energy outcomes of this week’s Summit in Paris.

On 10 April, the IEA will release a new Special Report on Energy and AI, which will look at pathways for meeting energy demand from data centres and AI, as well as how AI innovations could transform the ways in which energy is produced, consumed and distributed.

In his remarks, Dr Birol announced that the IEA will also launch a new Observatory on Energy, AI and Data Centres on 10 April. The Observatory, which was welcomed by participants at the AI Action Summit, will gather the most comprehensive and recent data worldwide on AI’s electricity needs, in addition to tracking cutting-edge AI applications across the energy sector.