When we submit a query to an AI tool, often these queries will be dealt with at a datacentre level.  According to research highlighted in the Sensemaker Podcast from The Observer – initiatives such as Open AI have been ramping up their energy consumption.  Energy usage has spiralled by over 150% for certain datacentres populated by well-known organisations.

And it isn’t just electrical energy, water is also used in massive quantities to cool datacentres - in one example, a particular Datacentre based in Oregon was using 29% of the local city’s water supply in one year.

The UN Environmental Program also highlights concerns around this growth in AI – as this has accelerated a lot recently. But we also have to consider other factors in our usage of streaming media, and generally in terms of remote technologies.

I’d like to say this – technology is a net positive in my view – it provides us so many benefits, and allows us to advance as a species.  But let us not blindly adopt technologies without understanding the true impact they may be having.   

As an example, image or video prompts use significantly more resource to create than text. So, I’m not saying “don’t generate that cat meme” – but maybe consider other ways you could create a net positive whilst still sometimes doing this:

• Can you delay turning on the dishwasher, waiting until its full, to save some water in your locality?
• Can you set the A/C thermostat a tiny bit higher to reduce local energy usage?
• Could you turn off lights and equipment when you leave a space?

Small steps like this can help us move in the right direction, and can lessen the overall impact that we have through use of these emerging technologies.  Though they still won’t solve local environmental issues around the datacentres - that's a bigger question currently.

So, the challenge remains for tech companies – how do they move forward sustainably, whilst still embracing these new technologies?  Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer, but I continue to search…

Disclaimer: No AI was used to write this, but use of cloud services was unavoidable…

It took a lot of self-control to not generate a cat meme :)

If you’re interested in seeing what the UN have to say about this subject, you can find a story from them here: https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/ai-has-environmental-problem-heres-what-world-can-do-about

And you can find out about the Oregon Datacentre here: https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2022/12/googles-water-use-is-soaring-in-the-dalles-records-show-with-two-more-data-centers-to-come.html