Will ChatGPT raise your energy bills?

As Donald Trump prepares to meet big tech firms to discuss new AI energy standards, fresh research suggests voters are already worried about who will pay for the power behind the boom.

A survey of 2,525 adults in the UK and US by AI company SambaNova Systems finds that concern over data centres’ electricity use is no longer niche.

Three in four respondents fear AI data centres could push up household energy bills in their area. The same proportion say they are aware of the significant electricity consumption associated with AI infrastructure.

Some 83% believe AI companies should prioritise energy efficiency even if that slows the rollout of new capabilities, while 71% agree AI data centres will strain their country’s power grid.

A striking 91% say it is important their country has its own AI systems, pointing to growing concern about sovereignty as well as supply.

The findings land days after the British Government called for evidence on how AI could support Britain’s energy grid, highlighting the tension between AI as a tool for system optimisation and AI as a new source of demand.

Rodrigo Liang, CEO of SambaNova, said: “AI is no longer just an enterprise technology story – it is an infrastructure story that reaches all the way to consumers’ electricity bills.”

With data centres expanding rapidly and grids already under pressure, the politics of AI energy use are shifting.

The question is no longer whether AI will transform economies – but whether it can do so without fuelling the next surge in energy prices.