Hello everyone,
For this week's submission, I chose to focus on the topic of The Environmental Impact of Generative AI.
Generative AI has become increasingly beneficial to both our professional and personal lives, experiencing unprecedented growth in human history. However, this growth also comes with environmental costs.
Data centers, which house substantial computing power, are essential for the development and use of AI models. Due to the intensive computing power required, these facilities consume significant amounts of energy. Additionally, the heat generated necessitates water for cooling, impacting both national and local resources.
This report examines various aspects of energy usage and provides recommendations at both national and personal levels.
Page 1: Growth of Gen AI - explore increasing usage of Gen AI as well as top investments from different countries
Page 2: Energy use - see how energy usage of Data centers grew over time, as well as the consumption of energy during development and inference of Gen AI models
Page 3: Water use - see the average water usage compared to US household usage, as well as how water usage of data centers can compete with local resources
Page 4: Conclusion - I did an illustration of how Gen AI interacts with data centers, and how it consumes energy and water. To mitigate impacts of Generative AI to the environment, users should be mindful during usage, and more investment should be dedicated to energy-efficient and water-saving technologies.
