Your Brain Runs on 20 Watts. AI Wants a Power Plant
The human brain runs on roughly 20 watts. The world's fastest supercomputer, LineShine in Shenzhen, draws 42.2 million watts. That gap has become the internet's favorite argument about AI energy use, and most of it is wrong.
The comparison itself holds up. However, the numbers circulating on social media trace back to a single paper. The most striking one has been misattributed for three years.
AI Energy Use: What 20 Watts Actually Buys
The 20-watt figure rests on decades of metabolic measurement. The brain accounts for about 2% of body weight and roughly 20% of resting oxygen consumption.
Neuron counts are shakier than they appear. The widely quoted 86 billion rests on four male brains and is currently under dispute in the journal Brain.
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