Environmental Impacts of AI

I hate AI on principle because of the impacts on the environment. It is profoundly, negatively affecting our environment, of which we only have one.

As a professor, I reaaaaallllly hate AI because it has made my work harder. (Harder in the frustrating sense, not harder in the sense of “I am struggling but learning” sense.) I may write about that differently another day, but today I am focusing on the environment.

Every week for the last several months I have found myself in a conversation with someone about AI, and most of the time this person has found a new use for it that they are smitten about. I generally make a face (the exact face you get depends on our relationship) and say, “But….the environment….”and the conversation really doesn’t go much past that point. It is not that people don’t care about the environment, it is (I think) that people don’t know the depths of the environmental impact. So I have committed to researching some reputable sources and hopefully my environmental arguments will land better in the future. (I say this knowing that even my computer use, anyone’s basic computer and energy use, also has environmental impacts.)

From MIT researchers: “Each time a model is used, perhaps by an individual asking ChatGPT to summarize an email, the computing hardware that performs those operations consumes energy. Researchers have estimated that a ChatGPT query consumes about five times more electricity than a simple web search”

From the UN Environment Programme: Globally, AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million, according to one estimate. That is a problem when a quarter of humanity already lacks access to clean water and sanitation.  

The World Resources Institute has some data on the multiple ways that AI (especially data centers) impacts local communities, including the local environment (air and water quality especially).

There is also something known as “the green paradox”, explained in this article. In essence, there are ways that AI can theoretically contribute in a positive way to the environment, such as in monitoring deforestation and other ecosystems. However, the authors of this piece recognize that we are far from AI sustainability practices necessary for it to be more of an ally, and that right now AIs carbon and water footprints are growing faster than equivalent environmental benefits.

So, there you have it: the primary reason I hate AI. And while every time I say it, I feel like a 90 year old screaming to “get off my lawn”, I want us all to have green spaces to enjoy.