AI is often described as a black box, but it’s not just its inner workings that are mysterious. Leading AI companies have kept figures on energy use closely guarded, making it hard to determine its climate impact. In a rigorous investigation, senior AI reporter James O’Donnell and senior climate reporter Casey Crownhart spent six months digging through hundreds of pages of reports, interviewing experts, and crunching the numbers. 

The team drilled down into the energy cost of a single prompt, and then zoomed out to build a broader picture illustrating the potential impacts of AI’s current and future energy demand. Their work revealed just how big AI’s energy footprint is, where that energy comes from, and who will pay for it. In the months following the project’s publication, major AI companies including Open AI, Mistral, and Google published details about their models’ energy and water usage. 

The 2026 awards will be presented in New York City on May 19.