A 4-bit sparse flop and a synaptic firing both cost ~30 femtojoules, but the brain has far more connections
MikePFrank · x · 2026-11-12
Mike Frank points out that a 4-bit sparse flop on the latest Nvidia chip and a synaptic firing in the brain each cost on the order of 30 femtojoules — per-operation energy efficiency is now comparable. The brain, however, has a couple of orders of magnitude more connections than even the largest AI models have weights, so biological hardware still leads in overall scale.
Related event: Mike Frank Compares Brain and AI Energy and Data Scale(2 posts)→
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