Artificial intelligence: Water consumption explodes - do we become poor?

Artificial intelligence: Water consumption explodes - do we become poor?

The rapid increase in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) also contains considerable ecological challenges in addition to remarkable progress. Studies show that data centers that support AI applications need not only large amounts of electricity, but also water for cooling. This urgent concern was illuminated in various analyzes, for example in a report by Krone , which addresses the complex relationships between AI, energy consumption and water requirements.

Openai boss Sam Altman optimistically commented on the future of the AI ​​in a blog entry, but admitted the severe social cuts that could go hand in hand with the rise of these technologies. Altman predicts that artificial intelligence will make the world richer, which could finance new political ideas such as a possible basic income that is fed out of productivity progress. But despite these positive views, the environmental impact on AI applications is considerable.

Environmental balance of AI and data centers

The water and energy consumption data are alarming. According to Tagesschau , the water consumption can be up to 500 milliliters with a single conversation with a chat bot. The development of AI models such as Chatgpt-3 required estimated 5.4 million liters of water, of which 700,000 liters were used solely to cool the data centers. The water requirement could increase drastically in the future: it is predicted that a total of 664 billion liters of water will be needed to cool servers by 2030.

The energy requirements of the data centers are also rapidly increasing. The use of electricity will increase from 50 billion kilowatt hours in 2023 to around 550 billion kWh in 2030. This development leads to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which are forecast from 212 million tons in 2023 to 355 million tons in 2030. Such developments could seriously endanger the climate goals, as the analysis of the eco-institute on behalf of Greenpeace Germany shows.

sustainability and political measures

The dependence on fossil fuels remains problematic, since many data centers are still dependent on conventional energy sources. According to reports from Übenieur.de The entire energy requirement for around 1,400 billion kwh will increase. This urgently requires political action patterns to systematically evaluate and regulate the environmental effects of AI usage.