We all know that power consumption (electricity) is becoming a challenge for many countries. We went from computers that were shutdown over the weekend or at night to cloud services and increasingly energy-intensive habits such as Google Photos, Facebook, ChatGPT.  Are we going the right path with these cool services that we all love?

You have it entirely backwards. The 1-2% of global electricity consumed by datacenters saves many times that amount by reducing wasted vehicle trips to stores, libraries, factories, universities, government offices etc. etc. etc. As the world moves online, the amount of fuel and time wasted sitting in traffic sucking diesel soot drops. Perhaps more importantly, that time can be better spent doing something other than sitting in traffic - ideally making people happier or more productive. And consider the exponential productivity gains that generative AI will bring, just as Google and Wikipedia have. This is all a massive win for humanity and the environment. The only losers are the oil companies.