The environmental impact of AI is becoming a concern for researchers, regulators, and industry leaders. Despite some efforts to build more efficient models, accurate data on environmental impacts is hard to obtain and often kept secret by corporations. On February 1, US Democrats introduced the Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act of 2024, aiming to establish standards for assessing AI's environmental impact and create a voluntary reporting framework. However, the effectiveness of such voluntary measures is uncertain, and a more comprehensive, multifaceted approach involving the AI industry, researchers, and legislators is needed.
Key takeaways:
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has admitted that the AI industry is heading towards an energy crisis, with the next wave of generative AI systems expected to consume significantly more power.
- Altman is banking on nuclear fusion as a solution to the energy crisis, having invested in fusion company Helion Energy in 2021.
- Generative AI systems also require large amounts of fresh water to cool their processors and generate electricity, with demand for water for AI potentially reaching half that of the UK by 2027.
- Legislators are beginning to address the issue, with US Democrats introducing the Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act of 2024, which aims to establish standards for assessing AI's environmental impact and create a voluntary reporting framework for AI developers and operators.