To be fair, the culprit in the article is _less complex_ than branch prediction: "with random data, bits are flipped often, and bit flips in transistors inherently draw power" is less mental gymnastics than "with random data, the cpu fails to predict the future, causing redundant speculative execution"

But why do we expect random data to result in more bit flips? That seems harder to argue than the mechanics of a basic branch prediction system.