arXiv:2603.06630physics.soc-phcs.AI2026-03被引 1

用物理定律测算AI算力消耗,揭示人类能问多少有效问题。

Photons = Tokens: The Physics of AI and the Economics of Knowledge

  • 将token视为有能耗的物理单位,构建全球算力供需模型。
  • 2028年美国AI耗电326太瓦时,可支撑约6.5×10¹⁷个token/年。
  • 算力过剩不等于问题质量,关键在问对问题——关乎决策方向。

关于人工智能能力与风险的讨论常缺乏量化基础。本文借鉴MacKay(2009)将能源政策重构为算术问题的方法,将大语言模型的输入输出基本单元“token”定义为具有可测量热力学成本的物理量。基于兰道尔原理、香农信道容量及当前基础设施数据,构建全球token生产的供需平衡表。推导出有限的问题预算:在物理、信息论和经济约束下,人类能向AI系统提出多少有意义的问题。应用科斯的企业理论与耐用品垄断问题分析AI价值链——从光子到原子、芯片、电力、token再到问题——识别价值集中环节与监管必要性。认为扩大token预算无法解决深层约束:在结构性不确定性下,决定性变量并非能回答多少问题,而是哪些问题值得提问——这是计算本身无法解决的主体性与方向性难题。将token经济中的测量局限,关联至古德哈特法则与海森堡不确定性原理的结构性类比,以及阿罗有效信息定价不可能性定理。该框架给出数量级估算,以规范政策讨论:按当前效率,2028年美国AI能源分配达326~TWh,可支持约6.5×10¹⁷个token/年,即每人每天约22.5万次,远超2024年中期预估使用量三个数量级以上。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Debates about artificial intelligence capabilities and risks are often conducted without quantitative grounding. This paper applies the methodology of MacKay (2009) -- who reframed energy policy as arithmetic -- to the economy of AI computation. We define the token, the elementary unit of large language model input and output, as a physical quantity with measurable thermodynamic cost. Using Landauer's principle, Shannon's channel capacity, and current infrastructure data, we construct a supply-and-demand balance sheet for global token production. We then derive a finite question budget: the number of meaningful queries humanity can direct at AI systems under physical, information-theoretic, and economic constraints. We apply Coase's theory of the firm and the durable-goods monopoly problem to the AI value chain -- from photon to atom to chip to power to token to question -- to identify where economic value concentrates and where regulatory intervention is warranted. We argue that the expansion of the token budget does not resolve a deeper constraint: under structural uncertainty, the decisive variable is not how many questions can be answered but which questions are worth asking -- a problem of agency and direction that computation alone cannot solve. We connect limits of measurement in the token economy to a structural parallel between Goodhart's law and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and to Arrow's impossibility result for efficient information pricing. The framework yields order-of-magnitude estimates that discipline policy discussion: at current efficiency, the projected 2028 US AI energy allocation of 326~TWh could support roughly $6.5 \times 10^{17}$ tokens per year, or 225,000 tokens per person per day -- more than three orders of magnitude above estimated mid-2024 utilization.

AI经济学算力极限物理约束问题质量

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