WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Artificial Intelligence is not only responsible for worrying amounts of earth-warming greenhouse gases: the technology's environmental footprint is also expanding at a pace that could strain the planet's natural resources, according to a new UN study.
Data centers, the global infrastructure powering AI, could consume 945 terawatt-hours of electricity annually by 2030 - nearly triple the combined annual electricity use of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria, countries collectively home to more than 650 million people.
However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. On top of the carbon footprint, every unit of electricity used by data centres also carries a 'water footprint' for cooling and energy production, and a 'land footprint' associated with power generation and supply chains.
According to a new study from UN University, AI-related water consumption could equal the basic annual domestic needs of 1.3 billion people by the end of the decade, while its land footprint may exceed 14,500 square kilometres - roughly twice the size of the Jakarta metropolitan area.
Public debate has largely centred on the energy required to train advanced AI models, but the study finds that day-to-day usage accounts for roughly 80 to 90 per cent of total energy demand.
The scale is striking: one widely used AI service is estimated to process around 2.5 billion prompts per day, consuming hundreds of gigawatt-hours of electricity each year.
Energy use also varies widely depending on the task. Generating a single AI image can require more than a thousand times the energy of simple text classification, while video generation demands even greater resources.
At the same time, the report warns of a growing electronic waste challenge, with AI infrastructure projected to generate up to 2.5 million tonnes of e-waste annually by 2030.
The production of critical minerals needed for AI hardware also raises concerns about environmental degradation and social inequities in extraction regions.
The expansion of AI infrastructure is also creating new disparities in access and influence. According to the report, more than 90 per cent of AI-specialised computing capacity is concentrated in just two countries - the United States and China. At the same time, over 150 nations lack significant domestic AI infrastructure.
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