AI data centers created as much pollution as New York City this year, study estimates
www.independent.co.uk
Over the past few years, Silicon Valley's AI blitz has created skyrocketing demand for high-end computation in vast dedicated data centers

In a study published on Monday by the peer-reviewed journal Patterns, data scientist Alex de Vries-Gao estimated the carbon emissions from electricity used by AI at between 33 million and 80 million metric tons.

That higher figure would put it above last year’s totals for Chile (78m tons), Czechia (78m tons), Romania (71m tons), and New York City (48m tons, including both CO2 and other greenhouse gases).

  • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
    27·
    9 days ago

    Exactly. Id rather focus on the dumbing down of society and destruction of the internet (not to mention facism and mass surveillance) from ai rather than nitpick environmental concerns no one cares about.

    • Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      61·
      8 days ago

      ‘Who cares that the house is on fire? My internet is crap!’ is exactly the dumbing down of society you’re talking about. You can’t use the internet if the planet doesn’t support human life.

      • bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
        12·
        8 days ago

        Very true. Im just saying there’s a lot of other much worse environmental concerns to go after. Harping on ai for this reason just gets us laughed at as old man yelling at cloud.