AI-generated video vs video streaming
All comparisons
Watch video (streaming)77 Wh
Generate a video with AI940 Wh
Verdict
Generating 5 seconds of AI video uses as much as ~12 hours of streaming (~940 Wh versus ~77 Wh/hour). It's by far the heaviest item in consumer AI, and its consumption isn't linear (doubling the length quadruples the energy). Use with awareness.
Sources
Frequently asked
How much does an AI-generated video use?+
About 940 Wh for a ~5-second clip, an order of magnitude well above text or images.
Is it worse than watching Netflix?+
For the same length, yes, by far: 5 s of generation equals ~12 h of streaming. But we watch hours of video and rarely generate more than a few seconds.
Why is AI video so power-hungry?+
It generates many mutually consistent frames; the cost grows faster than the length (doubling the length can quadruple the energy).