Is AI the Beginning or the End?

By: M. Gilchrist

When we see the words AI and revolution, we think of robots and computers controlling the world. However, when talking about AI there is a much closer revolution and change that we are entering, and it is linked to the environment. It is no secret that in this past century our environmental situation has only gotten worse, from climate change to global warming. The world has been facing, one could argue, an existential challenge. With the start of AI and its increasing popularization, our environmental situation will only get worse.  
 
Why does AI have such a big hold on climate change and global warming? Simply put, the AI that we use in our computers, at school, or at our workspace, is dependent on a vast amount of electricity to function. Nvidia, the company that runs the data centers of AI language models, have stated that they consume as much electricity as 1.3 million households in the US annually, or 14.384 GWh.  
 
As we increase the use of AI facilities the power demands will only become more burdensome in our already slowly decaying world. The environmental agency says current data center usage stands at around 460 terawatt hours in 2022. Which could increase to 620-1,050 TWh in 2026, equivalent to the energy demands of Sweden or Germany respectively. Google uses as much energy for AI each year as all the homes in Atlanta.  
 
All this energy powered for AI is mostly by burning coal and fossil fuels, meaning that AI could be the next massive and growing amount of global carbon emissions.  
 
Currently, the world is trying to become carbon neutral by 2050, an agreement set by the UN called the Paris Agreement, a goal yet to be reached. How will we achieve this goal with the burden of AI technology weighing us down, with its huge energy consumption? Will AI be effective and productive enough to warrant this amount of electricity usage?  
 
Although Microsoft, Google and OpenAI have said that they are trying to improve more and more AI and decreasing its effect on carbon emissions, as the world realizes how AI is taking a huge part on future environmental issues, its popularity might be impacted. Another example of this is cryptocurrency, which also uses the same amount of energy as the whole of Argentina. 
 
AI could, in the future, help with global warming and climate change. However, it is not yet ‘intelligent’ enough to support us in our journey of decreasing carbon emissions. The advance of artificial intelligence could lead to an 80% increase on carbon emissions.  
 
Is AI the begging of an environmentally friendly world or just the final nail in the coffin of our planet?  ​