{
  "id": 7093296,
  "title": "AI Agents Are Thirsty for Power",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/13/ai-agents-are-thirsty-for-power",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-13T10:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Wired",
    "slug": "wired",
    "url": "https://www.wired.com/story/ai-agents-are-thirsty-for-power/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Recently, a friend expressed their confusion about the construction of numerous data centers. This curiosity is shared by many, as AI breakthroughs have led to significant investments in energy resources. AI agents, not merely answering simple queries, are now capable of autonomously executing tasks with hundreds of small prompts. This shift is driving the expansion of tech companies' power infrastructure. OpenAI's recent achievement involved a swarm of agents solving a complex math problem, which consumed significant processing power and energy. However, due to limited transparency around energy usage, it's challenging to quantify the exact costs. Private AI companies often avoid discussing environmental metrics, making it difficult to assess their true impact. As AI agents become more complex and autonomous, the energy consumption is likely to increase exponentially. Some AI enthusiasts are attempting to calculate the energy consumption of their own AI usage, revealing that it can be comparable to the power needed to run multiple refrigerators daily. While these energy demands may seem insignificant in comparison to other activities, they contribute to an overall increase in global emissions, which is a growing concern.",
  "summary": "Silicon Valley is shifting away from chatbot queries toward a future filled with resource-intensive agentic AI—and it's driving the data center buildout.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Wired Science",
        "title": "AI Agents Are Thirsty for Power",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/13/ai-agents-are-thirsty-for-power-7094559",
        "published": "2026-09-13T10:00:00.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}