Penn Engineering’s Innovation & Impact podcast features Benjamin Lee, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering and Computer and Information Science at Penn Engineering and a visiting researcher at Google. Lee’s research explores computer architecture, microprocessors, memory systems and data centers, with a focus on energy efficiency and environmental sustainability.
In this episode, host Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering and Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, speaks with Lee to examine the growing physical and environmental costs of artificial intelligence, from the electricity and water required to run data centers to the hardware that powers increasingly complex AI models. The conversation explores how advances in chip design, computing architectures and data center operations could make AI more efficient, as well as the challenges of keeping resource consumption in check as demand accelerates.
Lee also discusses the relationship between computing infrastructure and energy systems, the trade-offs involved in reducing carbon emissions and why engineering research will be essential to scaling AI more sustainably. As AI capabilities continue to expand, he considers how incremental advances across chips, data centers and electricity generation could significantly improve efficiency over time.
Listen to a cross-disciplinary conversation about AI, computer engineering and the future of sustainable computing.
Subscribe to Penn Engineering’s Innovation & Impact podcast on Apple Music, Spotify or your favorite listening platforms, or find all the episodes on our Penn Engineering YouTube channel.
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