If every search on Google used AI similar to ChatGPT, it might burn through as much electricity annually as the country of Ireland. Why? Adding generative AI to Google Search increases its energy use more than tenfold, according to a new analysis. The paper published today in the journal Joule starts to paint a picture of what AI’s environmental impact might be as it starts to permeate into seemingly every nook and cranny of pop culture and work life. Generative AI requires powerful servers, and the worry is that all that computing power could make data centers’ energy consumption and carbon footprint balloon. The new analysis was written by Alex de Vries, a researcher who has called attention to pollution stemming from crypto mining with his website Digiconomist. As he turns his attention to AI, he says it’s still too early to calculate how much planet-heating pollution might be associated with new tools like ChatGPT and similar AI-driven apps. But it’s worth paying attention now, he says, to avoid runaway emissions. “A key takeaway from the article is this call to action for people to just be mindful about what they’re going to be using AI for,” de Vries tells The Verge. “This is not specific to AI. Even with blockchain, we have a similar phase where everyone just saw blockchain as a miracle cure … if you’re going to be expending a lot of resources and setting up these really large models and trying them for some time, that’s going to be a potential big waste of power.” AI already accounted for 10 to 15 percent of Google’s electricity consumption in 2021. And the company’s AI ambitions have grown big time since then. Last week, Google even showed off new AI-powered tools for policymakers to cut down tailpipe emissions and prepare communities for climate change-related disasters like floods and wildfires.
Full research : The environmental impact of the AI revolution is starting to come into focus.
