Sam Altman likens AI training energy use to 20 years of raising a child

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, speaking in India, rejected online claims about heavy water usage in newer AI data centers and argued that their cooling systems no longer rely on water. He acknowledged growing concern over electricity demand, comparing the energy needed to train AI models to the decades-long effort of raising a human, a stance criticized by Indian billionaire Sridhar Vembu. Across the United States, large off-grid data center projects and rising power prices on the PJM grid highlight how AI-driven computing growth is reshaping energy infrastructure and regulation.