There’s one another dark side as we advance in AI: Carbon emissions. Google recently revealed that the carbon emissions surged to 50% more than what they had emitted 5 years back. This is not exclusive to Google; it would be the case with every other AI-powered center. Let’s look at it.

Before that let’s have a class on carbon emissions. It is nothing but the release of CO2 from burning fossil fuels. CO2 or Carbon Dioxide, is one of the elite members of the Greenhouse gases, yeah, the gases that raise the temperature of Earth. How does that happen? Well, our star, the Sun heats the Earth’s surface, and this heat is trapped/absorbed by these gases. You know, it’s not that bad, actually this is what keeps our earth warm enough for us to live comfortably. The concern is however, when the emissions increase, more heat gets trapped and you get warmer and warmer and warmer. Now, that’s bad.

Higher the energy consumption, larger carbon footprints you leave. That’s why you see some software suggest you about reducing your imprints by turning off certain features. So why burn the fossil fuels and not go for the renewable source, you may ask? Hmm, the tech companies are purchasing renewable energy and wants to be green, they say that all the time, but it would still mean time for them to do the transition. Longer the delay, more they emit. Not just they. We. We all use AI. Especially AI. For all these AI to run, the data centers require substantial energy. As per Google’s report, it says it has increased 13% alone in energy consumption in 2023 compared to 2022. Remember my friend, they are all competing to be the number one. More companies, more energy, more emissions, more heat, we are going to be warmer.

What can be done? Maybe stop AI, unless they actually progress on moving towards the green side. Google and Microsoft have both stated that their goal of reaching zero emissions by 2030 is not an easy target. If they feel it’s challenging, why should we be hopeful? Maybe AI is not that important. Its okay if we put a pause on this whole AI stuffs. What’s the downside? Yeah, I know one serious issue is that this blog might die. That’s fine. We will do something about it. But what else? Hmm, yeah, it may delay innovations and slow the world. Look at the bright side, you at least contribute towards saving the world? Isn’t that more important? Unfortunately, that would never happen. Here business is everything. More money.

The authorities and regulators, need to impose strict deadlines for achieving either zero or limited emissions. If they don’t show any signs of keeping up with their targets close it down. Is that too much to ask?

^{Featured Images by Markus Spiske on Unsplash and Jas Min on Unsplash}