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Google’s Initiative to Support Electrical Workers’ AI Training

Google has announced that it will be providing financial support to the electrical training ALLIANCe (etA), an organization established by the National Electrical Contractors Association and the International Brotherhood of Electricians. The objective is to train a significant number of electrical workers and apprentices in the United States, specifically “100,000 electrical workers and 30,000 new apprentices,” to cater to the increasing power demands of AI.

According to Google’s newly released white paper, “Powering a New Era of American Innovation,” leveraging AI will unlock numerous economic opportunities, although the specifics remain unspecified. However, to capitalize on these opportunities, the US power grid needs to become more efficient and capable. This is primarily due to the substantial amount of energy required to operate and train AI models in data centers. The white paper estimates that new data centers may demand an additional “15-90 GW” of energy by 2030, which cannot be fully accounted for by more efficient chips and model training. To put this into perspective, the US Department of Energy states that 1 Gigawatt is equivalent to the power generated by 103 offshore wind turbines.

Google’s paper advocates for investments in alternative energy sources, including nuclear power, and emphasizes the need to expand the electrical workforce. The company cites a report by McKinsey, which estimates that an additional 130,000 electricians will be required by 2030 to build out data centers and manufacturing facilities. Currently, the number of retiring electricians exceeds the number of newly trained ones, with nearly 10,000 American electricians either retiring or changing careers each year, compared to only about 7,000 new entrants joining the field.

Google’s investment in electrical training is an attempt to address this issue. While it would be beneficial to have a clearer understanding of how the increased power will be utilized by AI, the company notes that there is a “causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.” Nonetheless, investing in skilled job training is a positive step, and it is certainly a welcome initiative.


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