Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer just a futuristic concept or a luxury reserved for tech giants and research labs. From smart home assistants humming away in kitchens to vast neural networks orchestrating the flow of electricity across entire countries, AI has firmly embedded itself in the fabric of daily life. Yet, as this technological revolution unfolds, it’s not just convenience and innovation that are surging—so are energy demands and the complexity of the systems that keep the lights on.
On August 25, 2025, two significant stories converged to highlight the double-edged sword of AI’s rise: the unveiling of China’s trillion-level energy AI model, "Qingyuan," and the release of the Smart Home Energy Burden Index by iSelect, ranking 21 countries on the household impact of AI-powered devices. Together, these developments reveal a world where AI is not only transforming how societies manage energy but also how much energy is required to sustain this digital age.
According to Tianyancha Media, China’s power system is on track to reach a staggering 2 billion kilowatts by 2030. But as 36Kr reports, the real revolution isn’t just about building more power plants or adding solar panels. Instead, it’s about creating a "digital and intelligent entity"—a kind of superbrain—that can perceive, weigh, and decide in real time, much like the AI at the heart of autonomous vehicles. In this new paradigm, algorithms, models, and intelligent agents are becoming the main battlefield, and the days when human dispatchers manually balanced the grid are fading fast.
On June 28, 2025, the China National Energy Group pulled back the curtain on "Qingyuan," the world’s first trillion-level large model for the power generation industry. This isn’t just a flashy upgrade; it’s a comprehensive overhaul. As 36Kr details, Qingyuan horizontally spans business lines from thermal power to hydropower and wind, while vertically connecting 75 scenarios—everything from equipment maintenance and power trading to safety management—deploying more than 41 intelligent agents. The model is designed to be the nerve center of the grid, capable of instantly grasping load pulses, monitoring renewable output, and deploying storage or hydro resources with millisecond precision.
But China isn’t alone in this AI-powered transformation. The Smart Home Energy Burden Index, published by iSelect, paints a global picture of how AI is quietly driving up household energy bills. Scientific American recently reported that AI tools use ten times more energy than traditional search engines, a fact that’s raising both environmental and financial eyebrows worldwide. By analyzing AI search interest, smart device popularity, electricity usage, and costs, the index ranks countries by the energy burden AI places on their homes.
Portugal tops the list, with residents making about 4,705 AI-related searches per 1,000 people in the past year. Their households use more than 5,100 kWh annually, and with electricity prices at about A$0.36 per kWh, the AI boom is translating directly into higher power bills. Luxembourg, with its impressive 90% renewable energy share, takes second place, but its citizens consume a hefty 11,168 kWh per capita each year. Australia lands third—Aussies have the highest global search volume for smart home devices and nearly 9,832 kWh in annual household electricity use, according to iSelect.
Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark (where residents pay some of the world’s highest electricity prices at A$0.55 per kWh) round out the top six. The United Kingdom, despite lower AI search interest, is highly engaged with smart devices and faces even higher household electricity prices at A$0.62 per kWh. Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland complete the top ten, each with their own blend of high usage, costs, and AI enthusiasm. Surprisingly, the United States—often seen as a tech leader—ranks only seventeenth, thanks to lower household AI searches and relatively modest electricity prices.
Back in China, the AI transformation isn’t just about efficiency. It’s also about navigating a rapidly changing market. In February 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued Document No. 136, marking a seismic shift: new energy sources like solar and wind are now fully exposed to market competition, with fixed electricity prices and full guarantees scrapped. This means every decision—every bid, every trade, every dispatch—carries new risks and rewards. Here, AI steps in as the ultimate risk manager, integrating streams of data from meteorology, hydrology, load changes, equipment health, and market prices to optimize decisions on the fly.
Models like "Qingyuan" and China Southern Power Grid’s "Da Watt · Power Control" are now capable of compressing what once took days of simulation into mere seconds. They use hierarchical modeling, starting with an L0 "general brain" that reads images, understands semantics, and recognizes trends. From there, they specialize by power type—thermal, wind, nuclear—learning how to predict output, adjust equipment, and ensure safety. As 36Kr notes, this isn’t just an upgrade; it’s "an evolution of the wisdom of the energy system."
For households, the implications are equally profound. The Smart Home Energy Burden Index underscores that AI isn’t just a tech trend—it’s an energy issue. Whether it’s streaming content from an AI-powered platform, using a chatbot for work, or running a home through smart devices, these tools draw significant power. For Australians and others near the top of the index, this means higher bills and a growing need to balance convenience with sustainability. The report suggests practical steps: switching energy providers, using energy-saving settings, unplugging unused devices, and tracking usage with smart meters.
Yet, for all the challenges, the AI-driven energy revolution also brings new opportunities. The competition among large models is no longer about who can mimic human language best, but about who can master the "energy brain"—the core algorithms, standards, and protocols that will define tomorrow’s infrastructure. As 36Kr observes, "Whoever can have such an energy brain will have the right to speak in the future of the entire industry." The energy system of the future won’t just be about producing enough electricity, but about producing "smart electricity"—optimally managed, dynamically distributed, and deeply integrated with AI at every level.
As AI continues to spread across both industrial and domestic spheres, the world faces a new balancing act: harnessing the immense benefits of intelligent automation without tipping the scales toward unsustainable energy consumption. Whether it’s a trillion-level model governing a national grid or a voice assistant scheduling your day, every clever response and every automated decision is powered by a little more electricity—and a lot more data-driven intelligence. The race is on, not just for smarter machines, but for smarter ways to power them.
