Aside from the obvious misuse of AI, such as nefarious deep fakes and other such scams, there is another, slightly less apparent, aspect of AI usage: the impact on the environment. Data centres are crucial to AI usage. Large warehouses of computing infrastructure are required to keep up with the growing demands of AI. These data centres are usually built on hundreds of acres of land and require large amounts of electricity and water for cooling. The vast amounts of heat generated during operation contribute significantly to global warming. These data centres are all set to add to global emissions.
As always, the most vulnerable countries and communities are the ones in the so-called developing world. Pakistan too has suffered a lot due to global environmental factors in the form of countless floods and the ever-present winter smog in Punjab. It is imperative that the overall costs and impacts of data centre projects are carefully evaluated and all relevant stakeholders are included in the decision-making process. Mindless greed and profiteering should not be the only guiding principles, as currently seems to be the case with big tech.
Ahmed Hasan Ansari
Berlin
Germany
