India, Jan. 11 -- The debate on artificial intelligence and energy is still framed too narrowly around how much power AI consumes. That question matters less than why AI creates such acute stress for electricity systems, where that stress materialises, and how it propagates through grids, prices and industrial policy. Once those mechanisms are unpacked, the issue looks less like a demand shock and more like a systems problem, particularly for countries such as India.

Recent analytical work points in the same direction even as headline estimates vary. The IMF Working Paper Artificial Intelligence and Electricity: A Macroeconomic Framework shows that AI-related electricity use behaves differently from conventional industrial demand. Its ma...