The article discusses the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the environment and the need for sustainable AI practices. Globally, AI is being increasingly used and expected to deliver significant economic benefits, but its growth also poses a significant environmental risk due to its high energy demands. The article highlights the need for sustainable AI practices and proposes several strategies to achieve it:
Environmental impact of AI
- AI’s energy demands are driven by the need for data centres, cloud platforms, and end-user interfaces.
- Data centres already account for 21% of the estimated total global energy demand by 2030.
- The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that energy demand from AI will increase from 460 TWh in 2022 to 800 TWh by 2026.
- Training generative AI models is energy-intensive and can consume up to 1300 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity.
Strategies for sustainable AI
- Building data centres in regions with easy access to renewable energy sources can ease pressure on existing resources and contribute to a lower carbon footprint.
- Enhancing hardware efficiency is essential by utilizing energy-efficient components and performing regular maintenance.
- Designing AI hardware for specific workloads can improve its energy efficiency.
- Assessing and reporting the environmental impact of AI systems enables organizations to grasp their lifecycle emissions and mitigate negative externalities.
- Developing efficient AI models can ease the strain on infrastructure and resources.
Role of US-India cooperation
- The lack of binding commitments to sustainable AI governance in the US and India offers opportunities for collaborative initiatives.
- Developing a common framework for measuring and disclosing carbon emissions and energy consumption across the AI value chain can encourage sustainability.
- Establishing standardised Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess environmental impact can help drive data-driven policymaking.
- Initiatives like the Coalition for Sustainable AI and the EU AI Act provide a collaborative approach to green AI.
Opportunities for US-India cooperation
- The U.S.-India Roadmap on Accelerating AI Infrastructure provides an opportunity to build AI infrastructure powered by renewable energy.
- Collaboration on specific frameworks to incentivize private companies to adopt sustainable practices can encourage cost savings, operational efficiencies, and competitive advantages.
To address the environmental impact of AI, collaboration among governments, businesses, and innovators is essential. By integrating environmentally friendly practices with technological progress, we can unlock AI’s full potential without endangering the planet.