Cheyenne Suarez

An aerial survey of Dinagat Islands in 2017 shows the environmental destruction brought about by mining.

Article (news)

Generative AI's environmental impact in figures

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1738391647457mines1.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="An aerial survey of Dinagat Islands in 2017 shows the environmental destruction brought about by mining."/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">An aerial survey of Dinagat Islands in 2017 shows the environmental destruction brought about by mining.</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>PARIS — The surge in generative artificial intelligence (AI) is being met with growing fears about the technology&#x27;s ecological footprint, one of the top questions up for discussion at a global summit in Paris on February 10-11.</p><p>Here are some key figures on the state of play in early 2025:</p><div><strong>Ten times Google&#x27;s power</strong></div><p>Every request made to OpenAI&#x27;s chatbot, which is able to generate all kinds of responses to natural-language queries, consumes 2.9 watt-hours of electricity.</p><p>That is ten times more than the equivalent figure for a Google search, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).</p><p>OpenAI claims that ChatGPT now has 300 million weekly users making a total of one billion requests every single day.</p><p>Beyond ChatGPT, which fronted generative AI&#x27;s emergence into public consciousness in 2022, there are thousands of chatbots.</p><p>One survey by French pollsters Ifop found that 70 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the country said they used generative AI.</p><p>In America, a Morning Consult poll found that 65 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds used generative AI, with the number close to half for the general population.</p><div><strong>Bigger than France and Germany</strong></div><p>Generative AI would not function without data centers hosting vast reserves of information and computing power.</p><p>In 2023, data centres accounted for almost 1.4 percent of global electricity consumption, according to a study by consultancy Deloitte.</p><p>But with massive investments planned into generative AI, the figure is expected to reach three percent by 2030 — or 1,000 terawatt-hours (TWh).</p><p>Deloitte said that was comparable with the combined annual consumption of France and Germany.</p><p>The IEA forecast a more than 75 percent increase in data center power consumption by 2026 compared with 2022&#x27;s levels, to 800 TWh.</p><p>American consultancy Gartner said the vast power demands meant that up to 40 percent of data center built for AI applications could face electricity shortages by 2027.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2025/2/1/taiwan-bans-government-agencies-from-using-deepseek-1119">Taiwan bans government agencies from using DeepSeek</a></div><div><strong>Hundreds of flights in CO2</strong></div><p>Training one of the large language models (LLMs) that power chatbots generates around 300 tonnes of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst estimated in 2019.</p><p>That is around the same output as 125 return flights between New York and Beijing.</p><p>Two years later, Oxford University researchers put the figure at 224 tons for a single training session for OpenAI&#x27;s GPT-3 model.</p><p>Developers have to train thousands of models to push their technology forward.</p><p>Despite such estimates, researchers say judging generative AI&#x27;s overall greenhouse emissions is challenging.</p><p>Experts and institutions have pointed to a lack of information on how models are produced, as well as an absence of global measurement standards.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2025/1/29/meta-posts-big-profit-plans-massive-ai-investment-0735">Meta posts big profit, plans massive AI investment</a></div><div><strong>Rivers of water</strong></div><p>Beyond energy, generative AI also consumes water, especially for cooling computer hardware.</p><p>GPT-3 requires around half a liter (one pint) of water to generate between 10 and 50 responses, according to a conservative estimate from researchers at the University of California Riverside and University of Texas at Arlington.</p><p>Overall, increased AI demand for water is forecast to amount to between 4.2 billion and 6.6 billion cubic meters (155 billion - 233 billion cubic feet).</p><p>That is four to six times the annual water consumption of Denmark, according to the same 2023 study.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2025/1/28/uk-s-ai-classroom-without-teachers-sparks-debate-2227">UK&#x27;s AI classroom without teachers sparks debate</a></div><div><strong>Heaps of electronic waste<br/></strong></div><p>Around 2,600 tons of electronic waste such as graphics cards, servers and memory chips emerged from generative AI applications in 2023, according to a study from the Nature Computational Science journal.</p><p>The researchers extrapolated that figure to 2.5 million tons by 2030 if current trends continue and nothing is done to limit waste.</p><p>That would be the equivalent of around 13.3 billion discarded smartphones.</p><p>And like much computer hardware, AI equipment including chips requires rare metals to manufacture.</p><p>Mining for such metals, often in Africa, can involve heavily polluting processes.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>The surge in generative artificial intelligence (AI) is being met with growing fears about the technology's ecological footprint, one of the top questions up for discussion at a global summit in Paris on February 10-11.</p>

The surge in generative artificial intelligence (AI) is being met with growing fears about the technology's ecological footprint, one of the top questions up for discussion at a global summit in Paris on February 10-11.