Will The Next Revolution Be Artificial - Or French?

A race to secure energy for artificial intelligence (AI) is underway. AI data centers already consume over 50% more electricity than they did just four years ago. BloombergNEF estimates that by 2035, demand will reach 78 gigawatts—more than double the 35 gigawatts consumed in 2024.Energy availability has long been an enabler of economic growth, innovation and even social stability. If the West cannot meet AI’s insatiable appetite for energy, the “AI revolution” may morph into something more dangerous: a French-style social revolution driven by inequality.The Scramble for AI EnergyToday, AI companies are seizing whatever power they can find—including outdated 20th-century sources.

Three Mile Island, infamous for its 1979 nuclear meltdown, is being reopened to feed Microsoft data centers. Google recently tapped Mitsubishi to power a data center with a 400Mw natural gas plant combined with carbon capture and underground storage.

In British Columbia, former bitcoin mines are flipping into AI data centers. Across Europe, American tech giants are courting aging coal and gas plants to secure long-term power.Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and their peers seem willing to pay almost any premium for electricity. But as they chase capacity, they are also setting higher benchmark prices. The result is rising utility bills for millions of families who have no shares in AI companies and no protection from soaring costs.If this burden goes unaddressed, a social revolution might intervene in the AI revolution.Echoes of the French RevolutionBefore the French Revolution (1789–1799), inequality reached disturbing proportions.

Economist Thomas Piketty estimates that 1% of the population controlled 60% of the wealth but paid essentially no taxes. Meanwhile, the monarchy plunged the nation into debt through foreign wars and royal extravagance.MORE FOR YOUTo cover its debt, the state raised taxes on the masses to as high as 50% of their already low income. A recession in 1785 and successive poor harvests fueled unemployment and food scarcity. The extreme financial, economic, social and political inequalities were too much for French society to bear. The masses revolted under the slogan of liberté, égalité, fraternité, toppling the French monarchy.What followed was chaos: civil war, a power vacuum and eventually the rise of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Millions died in the continental wars that followed, and France spent nearly a century stumbling violently towards stable democratic governance.The execution of Louis XVI on January 21, 1793.Bettmann ArchiveThe question now is how close are we in the West—especially the United States—to a similar revolution?Rising Prices, Rising TensionsBetween February 2020 and September 2025, U.S. residential electricity prices soared 40%, from $0.13 to $0.19 per kWh. Natural-gas prices climbed 54%, from $1.05 to $1.61 per therm. These prices are bound to rise further, as AI’s demand for electricity in the next decades is expected to outstrip new supply. The households best able to absorb those costs will be those that benefit most from AI: the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households. They already hold 93% of U.S. stock-market wealth, and their fortunes have risen alongside the growing valuations of AI-related companies. And, like old France’s elites, many of today’s ultra-rich have mastered the art of avoiding taxes on their growing fortunes.Meanwhile, MIT researchers estimate that AI could already perform tasks equal to 11.7% of the U.S. labor force—worth $1.2 trillion in annual wages. As of this writing, U.S. companies have collectively laid off 1.1 million people in 2025 alone. Just recently, Amazon announced cutting 30,000 corporate jobs. Labor displacement, widening inequality and rising living costs are a volatile combination. Ordinary Americans—three-quarters of whom say they struggle to afford anything beyond basic necessities—are now being asked to pay higher electricity prices so that companies can train AI models that may ultimately replace their jobs. And because the U.S. grid is strained, those same households can expect more frequent and longer outages.How much inequality will societies be able to bear? And for how long can social media and its poor excuse for “news” distract the public from acting?The West’s Energy MiscalculationThe West is not building new energy capacity fast enough to meet the runaway demand—not even enough solar and wind, which are currently the cheapest ways to generate electricity by a wide margin. U.S. federal policy is instead doubling down on gas, oil and coal (with a warmer embrace of nuclear fission). Surely that has nothing to do with the $450 million in donations, lobbying efforts and advertising spent by the oil and gas industry throughout the 2024 election cycle.In effect, many Western countries are pursuing a 20th-century energy strategy to solve a 21st-century problem. At this rate, we may even see the revival of “clean coal” as a proposed solution for powering AI.China, by contrast, is building hundreds of data centers in Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang, where land is cheap and solar and wind resources are abundant. China already has an oversupply of electricity, meaning households face none of the price pressure linked to AI demand in the West. AI systems and robots will simply absorb the surplus.China’s AI industry is also more efficient. Some studies suggest that China’s flagship AI, DeepSeek, may use ten times less energy than ChatGPT.Fusion: The Missing Ingredient in Western StrategyThen there is fusion, long regarded as the “holy grail” of clean energy, promising abundant, safe, clean, and affordable power, anywhere and anytime. The race is on to prove fusion at scale and connect the first commercial fusion power plants to the grid or directly to large users like data centers. More than 50 privately financed companies are now pursuing fusion, alongside major government-backed research institutes and multinational demo projects like ITER in the south of France. Fusion’s scalability, ranging from 150 MW to over 1 GW, is a key advantage. It would reduce the need for new high-voltage transmission lines, avoiding regulatory bottlenecks and enabling more localized power systems. In 20 to 30 years, fusion will likely complement solar and wind across many regions, enabling the phase-out of fossil fuels. China understands this. It sees winning in fusion, AI and robotics as the pathway to becoming the next global superpower.The West, while enthusiastic about AI, seems to underestimate the geopolitical consequences of falling behind in new energy innovation and fusion especially.Two Possible RevolutionsOne version of the future raises nightmare comparisons to 1789 France. In it, the West, especially the U.S., relies heavily on aging 20th-century infrastructure to run 21st-century AI. Power prices continue to rise, drowning households that were barely afloat. AI eliminates many jobs. The wealthy who bet on AI add zeros to their net worth while most Americans accumulate frustration, debt and firearms. This is scary considering that U.S. households own an estimated 393 million personal firearms, while their military has just 4.4 million small arms.Under these conditions, a French-style revolution could become thinkable for many.The alternative future is more hopeful. In the short term, solar, wind, batteries, gas plants with carbon capture and legacy nuclear capacity help close the electricity gap. But that won’t be enough. Someone whispers into President Trump’s ear that he ought to launch a Manhattan Project 2.0, positioning the U.S. as the world’s energy superpower of the future by aggressively pursuing fusion, geothermal and advanced materials.This strategy would increase clean, cost-effective electricity supply for AI and countless industries while keeping household bills affordable. Manhattan Project 2.0 should also protect displaced workers by funding retraining programs and placing people in new long-term job opportunities. As part of this, Western AI companies must also emulate their Chinese counterparts by designing more efficient models that require far less computing power. This path forward could revitalize the Western economy, preserve social stability and counter China’s growing clout.A revolution is coming—either technological or social. The West must decide which one it prefers. We can pursue the kind of revolution that raises living standards, drives innovation and strengthens democracies. Or we can ignore the warning signs and risk the kind where violence masquerades as justice and the guillotine reemerges as a symbol of popular frustration.Let us hope—and work—for the better revolution.