AI is bad for the environment, and the problem is bigger than energy consumption

The growing use of artificial intelligence has led to larger and more powerful data centres, with increased demands on the environment. (Shutterstock)

Artificial intelligence technologies, like chatbots, are attracting growing scrutiny for their voracious energy demands. However, energy consumption is only one part of their broader environmental impact.

Late last year, ChatGPT, the popular AI chatbot run by OpenAI, celebrated its second birthday. In its brief existence, the platform has amassed over 300 million weekly users who send roughly one billion messages to the chatbot per day.