AI's Environmental Impact: How Much Energy Does It Consume?

How much energy does AI consume and what are the main sources of its carbon footprint?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming various aspects of our society, from health care to entertainment. However, AI also comes with a significant environmental cost, as it requires a lot of computing power and electricity to run. In this article, we will explore how much energy AI consumes, what are the main sources of its carbon footprint, and how it relates to the controversies surrounding cryptocurrency mining.

How Much Energy Does AI Consume?

The exact amount of energy that AI consumes is hard to measure, as it depends on various factors, such as the type of AI, the hardware used, the data size, and the optimization techniques. However, some estimates suggest that AI is responsible for a significant share of the global electricity demand. For example, a 2019 study by the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that training a large natural language processing (NLP) model, such as BERT or GPT-2, can emit as much carbon as five cars in their lifetimes. Another 2020 study by the University of Copenhagen estimated that the carbon footprint of training a single AI model can be up to 284 tons of CO2, equivalent to the emissions of 125 round-trip flights between New York and Beijing.