Who Pays for AI? Power Bills, OpenAI–Oracle & the Robot Race

THE QUESTION

AI needs more electricity, more infrastructure and more money. Who pays, and who gets the benefits?

Kevin and Houman debate the costs behind AI’s expansion, from pressure on local power grids to the business bets funding new data centres.

They get into OpenAI’s computing deal with Oracle, the humanoid robot race between China’s factories and Tesla Optimus, and Australia’s AI dilemma: investment in data centres versus creators’ copyright and control over how AI uses our content.

This conversation includes opinions and forecasts, particularly around robot pricing and adoption.

What you’ll leave with

1. 01Who should carry AI’s power bill: data-centre owners, big tech, customers or local communities.
2. 02The risks of committing to years of computing capacity in a fast-changing market, through the OpenAI–Oracle deal.
3. 03Where the humanoid robot race stands, from China’s factories to Tesla Optimus, and what would convince us to buy one.
4. 04Australia’s trade-off between data-centre investment and creators’ copyright.
5. ?The better question to ask next: Would you buy a humanoid robot, and what would you pay?