Hey Chat! How sustainable are you?

“What can I help with?” 

“Ask anything.”

Suddenly, the possibilities become endless. ChatGPT has gained a cult following over the past few years. A gateway into the ever-expanding world of the internet, ChatGPT can answer anything in a matter of seconds. Yet, despite the number of opportunities opened up through artificial intelligence, there is an ugly truth in the shadows of this revolutionary tool. 

The corner of artificial intelligence (AI) lies in the rate at which artificial intelligence pumps out responses.  Other platforms, such as Google or Bing, which merely provide search results rather than concentrated answers, cannot compare to the supersonic speed at which ChatGPT operates. Because of this, ChatGPT has brought impressive results to workplace productivity through its ability to cut down hours of work for employees. However, while it is impressive that AI can make people's lives at work easier, there is a serious danger to relying heavily on Chat GPT, and it rarely affects those who use it. 

The main issue at hand is that ChatGPT does not live in our little computers but rather in its home-based data centers. These data centers are responsible for quenching the insatiable appetite of power-hungry servers required by artificial intelligence models. The mother base that makes these artificial intelligence servers come to life consumes a considerable amount of energy while generating a substantial ecological footprint. For instance, a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of California, Riverside, uncovered the secret water footprint of Artificial Intelligence models. According to the study, during the production of the ChatGPT-3 and 4 models, Microsoft used approximately 700,000 litres of freshwater during GPT-3’s training in its data centres—that’s equivalent to the amount of water needed to produce 370 BMW cars or 320 Tesla vehicles. The reality of the situation is that as data centers increase, water will decrease as servers are kept in check through “cooling towers” which use water to cool down the hardware needed to generate responses.

Water is our scarcest natural resource, with 1.1 billion people worldwide lacking access and 2.7 billion people in short supply of water for at least one month out of the year. We cannot afford to misuse water when the countries that pay the price are those that rely the least on artificial intelligence. Currently, out of the 17 countries experiencing the most water shortages, only a handful are among the leaders of artificial intelligence consumption. 

Unfortunately, there is a common trend where countries in the Global South are left to fit the bill of countries in the Global North. While countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany are using artificial intelligence technology to continue expanding their academia, countries experiencing water shortages pay the ultimate price. However, countries such as India and the United Arab Emirates—two countries with immense water shortage problems—still rank in the top ten when it comes to global artificial intelligence vibrancy. Just a year ago, an article was published by the World Economic Forum detailing the role of India in the Intelligence Age. In this new age, India is rebranding itself from a “global hub for low-cost manufacturing to a leader in high-quality production and innovation.” Stifled with fierce competition from the U.S. and China, India has to capitalize on its leapfrog potential and increase investments in the technological frontier. India has already been making strides over the last decade through strong efforts by the government to promote broad-based development in tandem with eliminating multidimensional poverty. Nonetheless, India must also ensure that it expands its technological sector without jeopardizing its people or resources.  Currently, 35 million people lack access to safe drinking water despite the aforementioned government efforts. An increased usage of AI will not help this shortage. AI also strains critical minerals and rare elements, which are often mined unsustainably to power AI algorithms, therefore cutting down on India’s already limited supply. 

Shifting gears to the Gulf, another great giant in the Intelligence Age emerges—Saudi Arabia. Vision 2023, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious plan to transform the kingdom into a knowledge-based economy, is the country's golden ticket to widespread change. Embedded into Vision 2030 and emphasized in Saudi Arabia’s roadmap to revolution, the kingdom has been concentrating on several critical technological sectors for future growth, including AI. While AI serves as a great tool to aid the development of sustainable cities, utilizing AI is an unsustainable method of bringing these cities to life. Albeit that Saudi Arabia is looking towards a more sustainable future, using AI—which is an environmental hazard—is an unsustainable means of development; not to mention that it is contradictory to the goals the kingdom is allegedly setting out to achieve. Due to exponential population growth, booming new industries and agricultural strains, the demand for water is too much to bear. The overexploitation of water in Saudi Arabia has led to an alarming scale of depletion. Therefore, the kingdom must perform a balancing act where it can execute sustainable projects such as Vision 2030 with tools that will not strain its natural resources. 

This aforementioned phenomenon sheds light on the realities of artificial intelligence. On one hand, artificial intelligence is revolutionizing our world in the academic and professional spheres while simultaneously destroying our planet. According to ESCP Business School, which published a study highlighting the role of AI in workplace productivity, artificial intelligence boosts skilled workers. On one hand, workers who are well-versed in artificial intelligence models can focus on tackling strategic tasks while AI handles “preliminary research or content creation.” Data analysis tasks have also been thrown on the plate of “AI software, as advanced AI systems analyze vast datasets, uncovering insights that would be impossible to detect manually.” Although this study paints a picture of all the positive effects of implementing A.I. in the workplace, this study hones on the benefits for skilled workers, failing to mention the effects artificial intelligence can have in boosting unskilled workers. 

Nonetheless, people are unlikely to reduce their use of artificial intelligence, especially because the negative side effects go unnoticed by those who heavily rely on it. What emerging economies must understand is that revolution can occur in tandem with sustainability, while also discovering new avenues to sustainable development. Countries that are gunning to become emerging superpowers have a great tool in their hands, but further analysis needs to be conducted on the trade-off of AI because the consequences are beginning to manifest themselves. 

For instance, several cities, such as those in California, Arizona, the Netherlands, and even India, are beginning to face a greater shortage of water, which experts from the World Magazine have linked to their data centers. Unfortunately, as demand for these cutting-edge artificial intelligence platforms keeps increasing, so has the number of data centers sprouting throughout the world. 

Every chat comes at a troubling cost. These effects are tangible, staggering, and borderline apocalyptic. There needs to be a greater sense of accountability when using artificial intelligence tools. For academics, students, and professionals, what is a tool that helps increase our productivity and pump out emails at alarming rates is one less glass of water for a family elsewhere. As demand for these centers increases, so do the social, political and ecological risks. While artificial intelligence appears to be here to stay, there needs to be a greater push for transparency, and the companies that generate these technologies must make the development of these softwares more sustainable. 

With this rapid progression, providing resources to bolster academic thought overshadows the need to provide basic human resources such as water. It is hypocritical in nature that artificial intelligence is paraded as a tool to help revolutionize and improve our world when this tool has proven to be so destructive to our earth and its resources. When we speculate about the takeover of artificial intelligence, we envision robots and robots with human-like abilities toppling the human race. However, as humans continue to deplete their own environment without regard to the rights of others, it becomes more and more clear that the revolution of artificial intelligence is already underway. At this rate, it is not the machines that will destroy us, but rather ourselves.

Photo source: Ecole polytechnique on Flickr