Artificial Intelligence, it has been around since 1956 but recently has grown in popularity as more advancements have been made.
AI can be used as a tool and though platforms like ChatGPT, it can be helpful in some scenarios, but one that it is definitely not helping is the earth.
Artificial intelligence, as of now, comes from data centres. These data centres have a huge impact on the environment. They require hard to come by elements from the earth for power, and the process of mining to acquire these elements destroys the environment. These data centres also produce large amounts of waste, leading to the creation of damaging substances like lead and mercury which seeps into the environment and kills ecosystems.
“People use AI more than they use their brains, I think if people knew the environmental impacts of AI they would transition away from it,” CFHS Student, Savannah Howell (‘25), said.
Water Waste
Not only do these centres produce a lot of waste, but the process of using AI causes the technology to produce large amounts of heat. This heat is often combatted from the use of cooling waters which is beneficial to reduce the computer-made heat but is detrimental to the amount of water available.
Though water is a renewable resource, that does not mean that it is infinite. It is important that this commodity is used for more important and impactful things than artificial intelligence so that water is being used sustainably.
““Unfortunately AI makes students’ lives way easier when they don’t use it constructively. The more AI we have, we need data centres to cover all of that. It takes up space, takes up a ton of water, and a ton of energy and creates an abundance of greenhouse gas emissions to power the data centres.”,” CFHS Environmental Science Teacher, Mr. Konrad Heller said.
Water waste stemming from AI data centres is a damaging way to take advantage of such a resource. The use of AI can cause droughts and is currently depleting water levels in a lot of countries, even so bad that these data centres have had to shut down because water is becoming scarce in their area. This has been mostly occurring in places in Asia, like China. But it has also impacted the United States, draining water from the Colorado River, one of the largest water sources in America.
There is no need for AI to be using such large amounts of water. According to npr, 300,000 gallons of water is used by these data centres a day. With the rise in popularity of AI, this number can only be seen going up and the total amount of water left in the world going down.
Although using AI may be a quick and easy solution for a lot of short-term problems, that choice has a harmful impact on a lot of long-term issues. So maybe think twice before asking ChatGPT for help.
