U.N. Scientist Warns AI Boom's Water and Energy Use Amounts to 'New Form of Imperialism'
By
Democracy Now!
Summary
A U.N. scientist warns that the AI boom is driving massive environmental destruction through enormous water, carbon, and land footprints. The report projects AI's water use by 2030 will match the needs of 1.3 billion people, and its power consumption will exceed that of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria combined. Iranian environmental scientist Kaveh Madani of the United Nations University calls this a "new form of imperialism," where the benefits of AI flow to wealthy nations while the environmental costs are borne by poorer countries. The investigation highlights how Big Tech's data center expansion is straining global resources.
Source
bskyU.N. Scientist Warns AI Boom's Water and Energy Use Amounts to 'New Form of Imperialism'democracynow.orgKey quotes
· 3 pulledMost people understand AI as a digital technology, as a virtual thing, as something that is in the clouds. What we tried to do in this report was to remind people that there's some physics to all of this.
This is a new form of imperialism. The benefits of AI are flowing to a small number of wealthy nations and corporations, while the environmental costs are being borne by the poorest countries and communities.
AI's water use in 2030 will match the needs of 1.3 billion people, while its power use will be triple that of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria combined.
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