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4 July 2024

The carbon quandary: AI, big data, and impending environmental crisis

Arindam Goswami

Imagine this: skies tinged orange, air thick with a burnt odour, and trees resembling extras in a zombie movie, their skeletal branches stretching out. Cities that once bustled now echo as ghost towns, with only occasional tumbleweeds drifting through. It might seem like a scene from a post-apocalyptic film, but it could become our reality if we fail to address carbon emissions.

Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI)—our potential superhero or unexpected villain in the climate change saga. According to recent research from Nature, AI systems like GPT-3 and BLOOM might be our secret weapon against carbon emissions. But hold your applause. Is it really as simple as letting robots save the day?

AI: The Unlikely Savior

Let’s look at the figures. Training GPT-3, one of the most advanced AI systems, generates an astonishing 552 metric tons of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). Alarming, right? However, when spread across the millions of tasks it performs, each query only emits about 2.2 grams of CO2e. BLOOM, another AI system, is even more efficient, with emissions of around 1.6 grams of CO2e per query. Now, compare this to a human writer. A writer in the US produces approximately 1400 grams of CO2e per page, while an Indian writer, working in a less energy-intensive environment, generates about 180 grams of CO2e per page. This comparison is akin to contrasting a Prius with a gas-guzzling SUV—the AI is far more eco-friendly.

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