How Is AI Bad for the Environment?
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Artificial intelligence (AI) harms the environment mainly by consuming massive amounts of electricity during the training, deployment, and operation of AI models, which leads to increased carbon dioxide emissions contributing to climate change. Training large AI models can emit as much CO2 as hundreds of long-haul flights. Additionally, AI data centers require extensive water for cooling, with usage comparable to filling thousands of Olympic-sized swimming pools annually. The demand for high-performance computing hardware also results in significant electronic waste due to the mining of rare metals and discarded devices. Furthermore, as AI technology grows rapidly, its overall energy consumption is projected to rise sharply, potentially accounting for a substantial share of global electricity use. These factors combined create a significant environmental footprint that includes carbon emissions, heavy water consumption, and e-waste generation.
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