More pollution and energy waste, the dark side of AI

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is not only emerging to replace human jobs, but also to increase energy consumption, which in turn translates into greater emissions of pollutants, warns Rebeca Hwang, professor at Stanford University. .

The expert says that one of the issues that is almost a secret for Silicon Valley – home to several emerging and global technology companies – is the energy consumption represented by the use of AI, such as ChatGPT.

He explained that a question asked to the AI ​​increases electricity use 100 times more than one asked in the Google search engine.

He added that Nvidia created a chip that uses 300 times more energy per unit than the previous version, which is explained because it requires greater response capacity.

In the context of the TradeHubSummit, the expert commented that this has generated an unusual situation for large technology firms, since they previously committed to a goal of zero emissions by 2030.

However, Instead of decreasing in the last two years, energy consumption and emissions generation increased by more than 50 percent..

It is estimated that in the United States alone, energy consumption due to using AI will rise from 3 percent of the total it currently represents to 8 percent in five years.

He noted that at this time on a global scale, the use of this technological tool generates an energy expenditure of 0.5 percent, which is equivalent to Argentina’s total consumption.

Data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicate that in 2023 due to energy consumption, the temperature has risen 1.2 centigrade compared to pre-industrial levels, which has caused heat waves and other meteorological phenomena.

The energy sector is also the main cause of the polluted air that more than 90 percent of the world’s population is forced to breathe and which is linked to more than 6 million premature deaths per year.points out in the World Energy Outlook 2023 report.

Hwang commented that although the transportation and oil sectors are the ones that generate the most polluting emissions, technology firms have the opportunity to reduce emissions by migrating to the use of clean energy, since the greater consumption implied by the use of AI can also have an impact. in electricity prices.

Advances

40 or 50 percent of the work activities we carry out are replaceablesaid the partner of Kalei and Nahuel Ventures about activities that AI can do, which would lead to many jobs being performed by robots in the future. He commented that the development of this technology is advancing, because although the first stage was to create chatbotswhich means AI with language to interact, is already entering the next phases, as a technology that reasons and solves problems on a human level. In that regard, he assured that AI has already been created in the United States at the level of a person with a doctorate.

The next stage will be one that replaces entire functions with freelancers.

After that comes the phase, which he metaphorically called Terminator, which seeks for AI to help in the invention, while the final stage will be to ensure that this technology coexists with humans, which would imply that it has values, although this desire to advance It is also created ethical discussions.