Sridhar Vembu on Sam Altman’s AI energy comparison: ‘We should not equate technology to a human...’

Sridhar Vembu

• Sam Altman compared AI training energy to raising a human.
• Sridhar Vembu argued tech should not be equated with humans.
• Debate highlights energy use and ethical role of AI in society.

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Zoho co-founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu has responded to remarks by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman comparing the energy required to train artificial intelligence models with the energy it takes to raise and educate a human being.

The comments surfaced after Altman said that while people often highlight the energy used to train AI systems, it also “takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart.”

What Sam Altman said

The statement was shared on X by the account Chief Nerd, where Altman was quoted discussing energy consumption in AI development. He argued that training a human also involves significant energy inputs over two decades, drawing a parallel between biological and computational learning processes.

The clip gained significant traction on the platform, generating thousands of replies, reposts and likes within hours of being shared.

Sridhar Vembu’s response

Responding to the clip, Sridhar Vembu said he does not want to see a world “where we equate a piece of technology to a human being.”

“I work hard as a technologist to see a world where we don’t allow technology to dominate our lives, instead it should quietly recede into the background,” Vembu wrote.

His statement reframed the debate from energy metrics to the broader philosophical question of how society positions technology relative to human life.

Broader debate around AI and energy

The exchange highlights two distinct perspectives in the AI conversation. One focuses on quantifiable inputs such as electricity usage, data centre infrastructure and environmental impact. The other addresses the social and ethical framing of artificial intelligence in comparison to human intelligence.

As AI models grow larger and more complex, scrutiny over their energy consumption continues. At the same time, leaders in the technology sector are debating how AI should be integrated into daily life — whether as a dominant force or as a background utility.