So, a bunch of do-gooders, over 100 organizations, bless their bleeding hearts, have penned a love letter to the AI overlords and their political puppets. The gist? Our shiny new digital gods are guzzling power and water like a wino at an open bar, and the Earth is picking up the tab. This, of course, is all happening right before some bigwig AI shindig in Paris. Timing, as they say, is everything.
These folks, Amnesty International and the AI Now Institute among them, are screaming about “increasing evidence” that AI is basically a digital coal mine, spewing emissions and sucking resources dry. They even have the gall to say that AI can’t be a “climate solution” if it’s running on fossil fuels. Mind. Blown.
They want AI infrastructure, those massive data centers that hum like digital beehives, to be fossil fuel-free. Apparently, the scramble to build these things is pushing power grids to the brink, forcing utilities to fire up the old coal plants. You know, the ones that give us that lovely, lung-coating smog?
And here’s the twist: Global data center electricity consumption could double by 2026. That’s like the entire country of Japan plugging into the Matrix. In some places, the demand is so high, it’s basically a love letter to fossil fuels, complete with the toxic ink of pollution-related health problems.
But wait, there’s more! These data centers are also thirsty bastards. They need water, oceans of it, to keep those chips cool and the humidity just right. One estimate suggests that if 1 in 10 Americans asked ChatGPT to write a weekly email, it would guzzle over 435 million liters of water. That’s enough to fill, well, a hell of a lot of swimming pools. Pools I’d rather be floating in, preferably with a whiskey sour in hand.
These tree-hugging signatories are demanding transparency about AI’s environmental impact throughout the “entire AI lifecycle.” They want to know the whole dirty story, from silicon birth to digital death. They even point out that the countries most vulnerable to climate change are getting screwed the hardest by AI’s insatiable appetite, while having the least say in its development.
It’s a classic tale, really. The rich get richer, the powerful get more powerful, and the rest of us are left choking on the exhaust fumes of progress.
And the punchline? The US, home to most of these AI behemoths, is basically giving the middle finger to the whole damn thing.
Trump, in his infinite wisdom, wants to declare an energy emergency to fast-track new power stations for AI data centers. Even the ones that run on coal. Yep, coal. He’s also promising to rubber-stamp environmental approvals for any company dropping a billion or more on domestic investments. It’s like a fire sale on the planet’s future.
Now, I’m no Luddite. I get the allure of AI. Hell, I’m writing this on a computer, aren’t I? But there’s a difference between progress and a drunken rampage through a china shop. We’re so busy chasing the next shiny object, the next technological marvel, that we’re forgetting to look where we’re going. And where we’re going, at this rate, is straight to hell in a handbasket powered by a supercomputer.
It’s Saturday, and I already need another drink. This whole thing makes my head spin. Maybe the problem isn’t the AI, it’s the humans behind it. We’re the ones with the insatiable thirst, the endless hunger for more. More data, more power, more, more, more. We’re like a bunch of digital junkies, hooked on the next hit of technological dopamine, consequences be damned.
And maybe, just maybe, these so-called “do-gooders” are onto something. Maybe we need to slow down, take a breath, and ask ourselves if this digital gold rush is worth the price. Maybe we need to remember that there’s a real world out there, a world of air and water and, you know, actual life, that’s being sacrificed at the altar of artificial intelligence.
Or maybe I’m just a cynical, whiskey-soaked hack who’s spent too much time staring at a screen. What was I saying? Ah, I’m empty.
Time to hit the bottle. Cheers.
Source: Orgs demand action to mitigate AI’s environmental harm