AI - EcoCounts

AI servers are trained on huge amounts of public data and run on the cloud with 24/7 availability, requiring immense amounts of energy and water to run and keep cool. With the current national energy systems around the world, it’s forecast that this will require massive amounts of fossil fuels and water.

Governments are mostly ‘unleashing’ AI in their economies on the grounds that AI will enhance productivity and cause progress and savings in industries like health, law, IT and even renewable energy, where it can help optimise renewable energy generation, grid stability and demand response. However, there is concern that big tech firms like Google or Facebook will make unrestricted use of this energy intensive technology to, for instance, increase social media algorithms’ ability to entrance their users, or allow the wholesale infringement of copyright across the internet.

While it’s clear that we can’t close Pandora’s box even if we wanted to, what can we do?

We can avoid the worst AI offerings out there
We can support campaigns for greater regulation, like at the Center for Humane Technology
Most of all, in case the worst comes to the worst and energy demands explodes, we have to promote and support climate action, so that it won’t require the burning of immense amounts of fossil fuels and add to regional water depletion.