RL> Example:
 RL> Hospitals are moving toward AI systems that let them monitor patients. 
 RL> This means fewer people are needed to monitor because the AI alerts only
 RL> for patients who need it.  Wonderful (since it help keeps health care
 RL> costs down).

I think that's a good example, but I still don't understand the difference between "AI" and a regular automated process.

 RL>  AT> It's just that there are other things that consume lots of electricit
 RL> 
 RL> Oh, like electric cars?

Yea. I wonder what would happen if everybody had a charging station in their garage, and they all charged their cars at the same time (like overnight.)

 RL>  AT> I understand that data centers can consume a lot, but I'm still in th
 RL>  AT> dark about how AI demands more electric than normal webservers.
 RL> 
 RL> Think web servers are only really active when in use.  But AI servers are
 RL> active all the time.  A simple explanation, but serves to understand why
 RL> they need more electricity.

But there are webservers doing automated processes constantly (the servers are always in use.) Like (for example) when this BBS polls the Fido hub for mail. Some sysops have their BBS polling for mail every 5 seconds. And it's not causing any blackouts. But (for example) the server that hosts Google's AI assistant can cause blackouts? I just don't get it. I'll probably never understand it.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)