A pair of reports this week highlight the growing environmental costs of using generative AI and training LLMs. And the data is shocking — showing a single query on ChatGPT-4 can use up to 3 bottles of water, that a year of queries uses enough electricity to power over nine houses, and that this sustainability problem could get 10x worse by 2030.
Much of the cost comes due to growing demand for data centers that power AI models. Once the centers are built or already exist, a new set of issues crop up surrounding their internal and external affects.
