You see Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the news. It’s on your social feeds. And it’s even on your phone. AI has found its way to almost every platform we use today. Companies are pushing to enhance AI to write emails, create quick consumable art, and even generate life-like viral videos. But there’s a dark side to this emerging technology.
There are ethical issues to using AI:
- altering people’s photos
- impersonating someone online
- creating audio of someone’s voice saying something they wouldn’t have
AI’s overuse is also creating environmental and health-related damage. The rush to add AI to products and services requires processing power and energy. And our devices can’t provide it. How are companies handling the demand? They’re building data centers with noisy and power-hungry technology. Those centers are spreading pollution into the air. They’re using almost 5 million gallons of water a day.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can outsmart AI. We can stop data centers from taking resources from forests and communities.
The Problem with AI Data Centers
As AI data centers spread across the country, many are close to or in Black communities. These centers use more energy and water than the people in the communities they’re built in. They pollute the air with gases that cause respiratory illness. The gases also warm our climate. This makes storms like hurricanes more destructive in the South.
In Memphis, Elon Musk’s AI data center powers the Grok AI on X/Twitter. It uses over 30 methane gas-powered engines to run. These gases and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are getting into the air. This causes community residents to have trouble breathing. It can even trigger dangerous asthma attacks.
These centers also strain power grids and deplete water. In South Carolina, residents living near data centers have higher power bills. This creates an economic burden on Black households that struggle to make ends meet. Some energy bills are increasing by 70% or more. Data center water usage is also creating a crisis in drought-prone states like Texas.
The growing demand for data centers has been accelerating due to the use of AI services. Amazon recently bought close to 600 acres of land in Ohio to build a large data center to support its AI products. Building these data centers is already having an impact on Southern communities. Ashburn, Virginia is home to more than 250 data centers within its city limits. North Carolina has 69 data centers. Many are in or near Charlotte and Raleigh.
How is AI affecting health and communities?
People living near these data centers complain of high noise levels. The machinery runs 24 hours a day. The facilities also place a burden on many communities. They’re causing a surge in the cost of electricity in their areas. Georgia Power expects power demand to triple over the next decade. This increased power demand will spike the use of fossil fuels. It may also increase the use of woody biomass. This is the burning of forests for energy. Expensive power bills and noise further will increase hardship in communities experiencing inequality.
The data centers emit toxins daily. A new report found that people living near data centers are more likely to develop lung diseases. Worse, prolonged exposure could lead to early death. Researchers estimated that a data center’s pollution affects the air of homes as far as half a mile away or more.
AI also impacts our mental health. AI chatbots can be dangerous for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. Some people have become addicted to using ChatGPT for companionship. The deaths of two teenagers also raised concerns. Their parents discovered that ChatGPT gave them advice on how to end their lives.
How is AI affecting the environment?
AI data centers negatively affect the environment in so many ways.
Land use
These data centers are competing for space in urban areas. Some are also moving into more green spaces. Agricultural land is also under threat, making some crops harder to farm.
Forest use
Biomass company Drax wants to use its wood pellet operations to support the AI boom. AI gives biomass companies an incentive to make and burn more wood pellets. More forests are clearcut to make room for these facilities and then burned to power them. The damage to the environment compounds. This accelerates pollution, while disrupting ecosystems.
Water use
These data centers use a lot of water. Google’s data centers alone used 355 million gallons of water in 2021. That amount will grow as more centers start running. This will make water scarce in regions that need it.
E-Waste
E-waste is any trash materials used in electronics. It’s another issue that worsens data centers’ impact on the environment. These materials erode the environment with chemicals. With the size and scale of data centers, they’re shedding e-waste at alarming rates. It’s estimated that data centers will leave over 5 million tons of e-waste in the environment by 2030.
How can you help?
AI may seem like it’s unavoidable, but we can make small choices that can lessen its damage.
Reduce your use of AI services
What’s the most impactful change you can make? Reduce your use AI platforms like ChatGPT. Searches on these platforms use more energy and water to give you the same results as a normal search. Other platforms you use may have AI features. You can sometimes disable them in settings, saving power on your device.
You may have seen the “AI overview” that appears at the top of most Google searches. You can stop Google from serving the AI overview by adding “-ai” to the end of a search request. This only brings up organic search results without using data centers.
Learn skills from your community
AI’s seeming ability to do everything is an illusion. Look at any AI-generated image, and you’ll see where it makes mistakes. That’s why one of the most powerful things you can do is learn skills that don’t rely on AI. You can get skills that will last a lifetime and won’t have to worry about harming the environment.
Get outside and enjoy nature
Unplug and spend time in nature. There are many health benefits to getting out in nature. It can be great exercise. It’s also a good way to spend time with friends and family. Being in nature can even improve memory and reduce anxiety.
Download and Share
AI Data Centers and Southern Forests: A Primer on the Era of Data Centers in the US South
Take Action
Our lawmakers also have a role in the fight against AI data centers. Demand regulations that protect our communities and environment. Tell your lawmakers to make sure forest biomass isn’t used to power AI and/or data centers. Tell them to enact a moratorium on new and existing data centers.
Send a message to your lawmakers today!