Politicians and billionaires don’t seem to care what happens to the planet. They are more interested in AI, GDP, and power. My mantra was always that as long as Gross Domestic Product was the measure of success around the world, then it was pretty obvious that our environment, the Earth, was not going to be taken care of.
And now that we have criminals running governments around the world, well things are getting out of hand.
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Have you read about Artificial Intelligence? Pretty sure you are using it if you are on the internet.
Here is some data that may keep you awake at night:
So how is AI problematic for the environment?
Most large-scale AI deployments are housed in data centres, including those operated by cloud service providers. These data centres can take a heavy toll on the planet. The electronics they house rely on a staggering amount of grist: making a 2 kg computer requires 800 kg of raw materials. As well, the microchips that power AI need rare earth elements, which are often mined in environmentally destructive ways, noted Navigating New Horizons.
The second problem is that data centres produce electronic waste, which often contains hazardous substances, like mercury and lead.
Third, data centres use water during construction and, once operational, to cool electrical components. Globally, AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million, according to one estimate. That is a problem when a quarter of humanity already lacks access to clean water and sanitation.
Finally, to power their complex electronics, data centres that host AI technology need a lot of energy, which in most places still comes from the burning of fossil fuels, producing planet-warming greenhouse gases. A request made through ChatGPT, an AI-based virtual assistant, consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search, reported the International Energy Agency. While global data is sparse, the agency estimates that in the tech hub of Ireland, the rise of AI could see data centres account for nearly 35 per cent of the country’s energy use by 2026.
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/61440087 Here is the Qobuz playlist, and below the evil Spotify playlist. Qobuz pays artists more….make the switch.
All music made without AI….
Driven in part by the explosion of AI, the number of data centres has surged to 8 million from 500,000 in 2012, and experts expect the technology’s demands on the planet to keep growing. (UN Environment Programme)
Water, water, water is not everywhere if AI continues to grow exponentially.
A medium-sized data centre can consume up to roughly 110 million gallons of water per year for cooling purposes, equivalent to the annual water usage of approximately 1,000 households. Larger data centres can each “drink” up to 5 million gallons per day, or about 1.8 billion annually, usage equivalent to a town of 10,000 to 50,000 people. Together, the nation’s 5,426 data centres consume billions of gallons of water annually. One report estimated that U.S. data centres consume 449 million gallons of water per day and 163.7 billion gallons annually (as of 2021). A 2016 report found that fewer than one-third of data centre operators track water consumption. Water consumption is expected to continue increasing as data centres grow in number, size, and complexity. (eesi.org)
A new study just came out in the past week about AI Data Centres and how much heat they generate. Check this out…..
Data centres built to power AI produce so much heat that they can raise the surface temperature of the land around them by several degrees—creating so-called data centre heat islands that may already be affecting up to 340 million people. Andrea Marinoni at the University of Cambridge saw that the amount of energy needed to run a data centre had been steadily increasing of late and was likely to “explode” in the coming years, and set out to quantify the impact.
The researchers took satellite measurements of land surface temperatures over the past 20 years and cross-referenced them against the geographical coordinates of more than 8400 AI data centres. Recognising that surface temperature could be affected by other factors, the researchers chose to focus their investigation on data centres located away from densely populated areas.
They discovered that land surface temperatures increased by an average of 2°C (3.6°F) in the months after an AI data centre started operations. In the most extreme cases, the temperature increase was 9.1°C (16.4°F). The effect wasn’t limited to the immediate surroundings of the data centres: the team found increased temperatures up to 10 kilometres away. Seven kilometres away, there was only a 30 per cent reduction in the intensity. ( https://www.benton.org/)
I do not use AI. I do not like AI. AI will take away jobs. AI is already feeding us information in search engine overviews. In short, you are trusting AI to give you accurate, unbiased information. In short, you are trusting the tech billionaires to ensure you get the information YOU want. They would NEVER try to programme that information to tell you what they want, WOULD THEY?
AI Overview, yeah, you have seen it in your browser when you search; it’s scary. People are getting the answer they need from the overview over 50% of the time, without clicking through to websites to do their own research!
This video may be a bit tech-heavy….but skim through it if you have a moment.
One thing is clear: whichever browser you use, you’ll soon be able to get a hand from an AI assistant. I do not want an AI Assistant. Call me a technophobe, call me an old-fashioned researcher, call me the breeze, because I do not think the IT world is looking after humanity.
I will leave you with some words and some ‘science fiction’.
Let me know how you are using AI in the comments or how you feel about AI…
Linda McMahon, the Education Secretary in the USA, made this mistake last April.
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