Hello tumblr! I know this isn't typically the type of thing I'd make and post on here (I reblog the topic all the time, though), however! for the past week, I had been working on a school project that allowed me to talk on the topic of gen AI. I'm pretty proud of how it came out, and a couple people asked me to make a full post of it, so here it is!
I spent a lot of time on this, I hope people like it
Plain text under the cut
Al. We all know the term by now. Marketed by the companies giving it to you as this magical robot tool that can do anything. It can help you with homework. It can create images for you. It can write works for you, and you can even talk to it like a person. But is it really as magical as it's made to appear?
Artificial Intelligence and the continued production of newer and more complex models of it has a negative impact on the art industries, communities, and the planet. But for now, we'll mainly focus on how it impacts our environment and the world we live in. So, Why Is Al Bad For The Planet?
Al Data Centers
Typically, when you think of Artificial Intelligence, you just think of this digital entity that can run on your phone, computer, tablet, or other such devices.
However, the systems behind these Al models operate remotely in large buildings called data centers. They are buildings that contain thousands of computers used for storing data and processing things like prompts for generative Al models.
Fossil Fuels
Many data centers are powered with the burning of fossil fuels, a method of power generation that is responsible for nearly 90% of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, and over 75% of greenhouse gas emissions in general, making them the dominant cause of global warming.
These data centers actively delay efforts to retire fossil fuel-based methods of power generation for the sake of the environment.
Energy Consumption
In order for generative Al models to have the ability to generate such varied and complex content from a prompt, they require a mass amount of computing power.
What also consumes a large amount of energy is training the Al model on the data it uses to function in the ways it is
known to. One 100 word email generated by ChatGPT consumes 0.14 kWh, enough to power 14 led light bulbs for an hour. That doesn't seem like much, right? Well, that number builds up very quickly, because a LOT of people use ChatGPT several times a day, whether it be to write a grocery list, or a whole essay. A recent study showcases that on average, ChatGPT consumes 39.98 MILLION kwh each DAY, which is enough electrical power to charge 8 million cell phones. Okay, so Al uses a lot of electricity. Why is this a problem?
Well, electricity is a secondary power source, meaning it has to first come from somewhere else. Much of the energy used to power computers in Al data centers comes from-you guessed it! Burning fossil fuels. And with how normalized it is right now to use ChatGPT for everything, that's a LOT of energy consumption. Therefore, a lot of CO2 being put into our atmosphere daily.
Water Consumption
Electricity isn’t the only thing consumed in AI data centers, though. AI drinks water. But obviously it cannot consume water the same way biotic organisms do, so what does that mean?
How AI consumes water has to do with the fact that in these data centers, constant consumption of electricity for the purpose of training AI or having it create output heats up the computers that the systems operate on. If the computers are left to overheat, they risk damaging their components, and they can stop working. So what these data centers do is they use water as a cooling system.
In order for this method of cooling to work, the water must be clean and free of contaminants, or else bacteria or corrosion in the systems might become a problem. This means that the water used for this is mainly potable water from local water sources.
That same 100 word email generated by ChatGPT from earlier in terms of water consumption would use up 519 mL, which is a little bit more than one bottle of water. Every day, an estimated 39.16 million gallons of water is consumed by ChatGPT data centers, which is enough to fill 978,000 bathtubs. Much of this water that is used up for cooling is also lost via evaporation.
RAM And It's Rising Prices
Another point to mention is that the price of RAM memory chips and by extension, any devices that make use of them like laptops, PCs, tablets, you name it, are skyrocketing because the companies creating and selling them are choosing to greatly invest in providing them to companies in the Al industry instead of regular customers.
This increases the demand, and therefore overall cost. What this also does is promote expansion of the Al industry, enabling companies to create more data centers and computers used in gen Al models, and therefore increasing water and energy consumption.
Residential Effects
These problems can negatively affect local communities that have to live near these data centers. Average electricity bills in areas rise if the data center uses too much electricity.
Many residents find themselves low on water because the data centers take potable water away from local sources of it that are used to run households, or for drinking water for people. In some cases, water that has been used in data centers finds its way back into those local water sources, which can carry sediment into peoples' pipes it if it hasn't been properly treated. Much of this is to the detriment of local populations.
Scientific Effects
Artificial intelligence's impact on the environment also affects everyone and everything on the planet, even you! Natural disasters, droughts, decreases in biodiversity due to declines in populations of plants and animals that can't function under rapidly changing environments are all consequences of climate change, and the significant pollution and CO2 being released into the atmosphere by Al data centers contributes to the problem.
Many scientists and environmental experts are critical of artificial intelligence and its implementation into everything in the digital world because of reasons like this. It negatively impacts communities on both a local and global scale.
Solutions, Setbacks, and More Solutions
So what should be done about the generative Al problem?
Well, if the environmental aspect was the only flaw with how these systems operate, a solution could be to plan initiatives to switch the data centers to more green energy sources and methods of cooling that don't take away from local resources, but unfortunately environmental impact is not the only danger Al poses.
It's also very often trained on data from unconsenting artists who are not compensated for their work, effectively making it equivalent to a plagiarism tool. It very often spreads misinformation, or is used to spread disinformation. There are several privacy risks associated with Al algorithms collecting user data to be given to third parties. It's often used to create illegal and inappropriate content of innocent people.
Sometimes people create parasocial relationships with and feed personal information to Al chat bots, as well as said relationships having an unhealthy mental impact on them.
These are just some of the other problems summarized.
So really, in terms of generative Al like ChatGPT, a viable solution may just be to decrease if not cease use of it among people. It does not need to be implemented into everything. Even you can help contribute to this by choosing to just not use Al for everything. You can write that 100 word email by yourself, you don't need a robot to do it for you.
Because if people as a collective stop sending the message to Al companies that this is a necessary tool everybody wants, there is a chance there will no longer be as much prioritization on this seemingly endless expansion of it.
A challenge this could pose is that there are tools powered by Al that do have genuine use to people, like translation, inspiration, and finding the exact info you want without having to dive through 20 different articles that just drag on without getting to the point and at the same time shoving advertisements in your face constantly.
To which I say, put more focus into developing reliable, human powered alternatives to those. More easily accessible sources of information that you can easily get to without skimming for an hour, open source and accurate human-powered translators, and websites dedicated to inspiration that comes from ethical places. Many of current sources for information also are constantly paywalling information with service subscriptions, so these tools should be free and accessible for all.
Results For Everyone
The result of this solution offered would be that with a lack of Al data centers or even just greatly reduced activity and power usage, there would be lowered electricity bills for nearby residents, and easier access to water, with less risk of it being over-consumed to cool Al units.
This reduced activity would also lead to a lowered global carbon footprint, with greatly lowered CO2 emissions. Prices of devices and RAM would most likely lower with decreased demand from the companies in the Al industry taking away resources from regular customers, making them more affordable.
Overall, the results would be significant amounts of energy and resources saved, predominantly benefitting both people, and our planet.
In Conclusion.
Al is not the utopic, futuristic supertool that it's cracked out to be by the people trying to sell it to you. In general, it does more harm than good. Reduced initiative on endlessly growing the industry of generative Al would cut back on the resources they take up and lessen the global carbon footprint, helping our planet and everything living on it.
But part of this solution starts on a smaller scale. Reduced Al usage with individual people and populations. One person choosing to not write that email with ChatGPT may not seem like a lot, but if millions of people make that same choice? That is where progress happens. So please, write that email, draw that art (even if you think you're not good at it! Practice makes progress!), find those little websites people make to supply you with handy little tools! It is worth it.
Some of my favorite resources:
Ecosia.org - a web browser that uses its funding to plant trees
Wordhippo.com - A thesaurus and word tool that can help with writing, whether it be essays, or creative writing in your free time
Openclipart.org - A website full of public domain clipart that's free to use for whatever project you want
