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UN report warns AI could consume 3% of global electricity and rival sub-Saharan Africa's water use by 2030

By

Sascha Pare

15d ago· 2 min readenNews
technologyscienceenvironmentai & computing

Summary

A UN report warns that AI's energy consumption could reach 3% of global electricity demand by 2030, with water usage comparable to what 1.3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa consume annually. Lead investigator Kaveh Madani discusses AI's staggering environmental footprint, including land use, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions from data centers. If AI data centers formed a country, they'd rank 11th globally for energy use. The article offers practical advice on how everyday users can limit their impact.

Source

bskyUN report warns AI could consume 3% of global electricity and rival sub-Saharan Africa's water use by 2030livescience.com

Key quotes

· 3 pulled
Energy used to power artificial intelligence (AI) could jump to 3% of global electricity demand by 2030, guzzling as much water as the 1.3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa consume in one year to meet their domestic water needs.
If the data centers that underpin AI formed a country, they would rank 11th in the world for energy use due to their high infrastructure and energy demands.
'Is it really necessary to generate another image?' — UN scientist explains how everyday people can limit their AI footprint.
Snippet from the RSS feed
Live Science spoke with Kaveh Madani, the lead investigator of a United Nations report examining AI's environmental footprint, about this technology's staggering energy use and what users can do to limit their impact.

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