Is Artificial Intelligence sustainable?

Power for AI is the new cause of concern for large data centers. It is exciting to have an AI Powered assistant or devices ready to answer/ solve our queries at the press of a button. But as many won't realize, this facility comes at a cost, well more than we have paid from our pockets. The cost to the environment is humongous, and implications are far reaching. Can this planet afford this convenience which would increase our Energy demand manifold? Time we take a pause to realize the flip-side of the coin, to which many remain blindfolded.

The world has been changing rapidly over the last century. We have build machines and used them to our benefit. It has made our lives easier and convenient. However as humanity became smart, our expectations kept on rising. It demanded that the now the machines become smart and can replace the human to perform some tasks which were non-strategic or repetitive in nature. Smarter machines also mean more efficiency and lower down-times. Machines which would record, analyse and use data to perform and predict the task and the responses.

However for machines to be smart, they needed to be connected to large data servers through the internet such that the sensors would transmit and capture various data patterns and store them. This data can be used by ultra-fast processors to read patterns and predict outcomes based on machine learning. It all requires large data storage coupled with high-speed transmission. All this consumes Power for which we still rely on natural resources, mainly conventional resources which have a finite availability and has climatic impact when converted to usable form.

Tech companies are rising sources of emissions due to the need for 24/7 reliable power to keep data centers’ running. The carbon foot-print of major tech giants is expected to leapfrog against the growing demand of its data centers. Not only Power, the large data centers need water for cooling. On average, a data center uses 300,000 gallons of water per day, which is similar to the amount of water used by 100,000 homes.

Now the question is, can we afford this requirement? Can such data centers be sustainable? Or simply, do we really require Artificial Intelligence (AI) in an around all our devices? Those pushing the technology must first understand and educate about the implications. We cannot be adopting something that the environment cannot afford.

Views are personal.

Abhik Tushar Das (+91 9624 76 7060 / [email protected])