Looking for another reason to fear AI?

I have very mixed emotions about artificial intelligence.

On the one hand, it can be a force of good, as when it's used to solve thorny medical diagnostic problems, help the disabled live more independently, make buildings operate more efficiently.

On the other hand, well, it sure has the potential to be a force for no good - which in many situations, it already is. What's the plan for all the jobs that will be replaced? (Any appetite for a guaranteed income that will sustain people who are no longer able to work because the only job they know how to do is now done by a robot?) How are we going to handle all the misinformation and disinformation out there that, thanks to AI, is so rapidly created and disseminated? What about all the deep fakes that are sexualizing and traumatizing middle school kids? And what, what, what about the environmental impacts?

First off, AI is admittedly doing some things that benefit the environment. 

Among other things, the technology is already being used to map the destructive dredging of sand and chart emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, [as] UNEP, for example, uses AI to detect when oil and gas installations vent methane, a greenhouse gas that drives climate change.(Source: UN Environmental Programme)

So, BravAI!

But there's also a horrendous environmental downside.

The proliferating data centres that house AI servers produce electronic waste. They are large consumers of water, which is becoming scarce in many places. They rely on critical minerals and rare elements, which are often mined unsustainably. And they use massive amounts of electricity, spurring the emission of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

How bad is it? For a couple of examples:

The electronics [that the huge data centers that house AI installtions] rely on a staggering amount of grist: making a 2 kg computer requires 800 kg of raw materials. 

Globally, AI-related infrastructure may soon consume six times more water than Denmark, a country of 6 million, according to one estimate. That is a problem when a quarter of humanity already lacks access to clean water and sanitation. 

...to power their complex electronics, data centres that host AI technology need a lot of energy, which in most places still comes from the burning of fossil fuels, producing planet-warming greenhouse gases. A request made through ChatGPT, an AI-based virtual assistant, consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search, reported the International Energy Agency.  

And yet, unless you do something to change it, Google Search now seems to default to an AI-based response. And I've come to rely on giving the AI-based response at least a quick glance as my first stop when search results are concerned. Sometimes I end up looking further. I want more detail. I want to fact check - AI can be wrong. 

And even when AI's right - or right enough - do I really need the insta-search result that AI produces to learn that Boston, Worcester, and Providene all have a ton of triple deckers among their housing stock?

No, I don't.

But I've been too lazy to turn off AI Overview and go with good old-fashioned Google Search.

As I said up front, I have mixed emotions about AI. But if you're looking for another reason to fear it, the environmental impact may well be it.