Speaker 1: Already and this is the daily This is the daily
Speaker 1: ohs oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Ods. It's Monday,
Speaker 2: the tenth of February. I'm emma, and I'm a told.
Speaker 2: Artificial intelligence or AI has become increasingly ingrained in our
Speaker 2: lives in recent years, and we've seen this technology used
Speaker 2: for both good and for bad, from life changing medical
Speaker 2: discoveries to the rise of explicit deep fakes. But during
Speaker 2: the recent AI boom, we've heard a lot of conversations
Speaker 2: around ethics and safety. As those conversations have become more intense,
Speaker 2: there is a lesser discussed concern that is now gaining attention,
Speaker 2: and that's all about the environmental impact of AI.
Speaker 1: AI requires immense quantities of resources, and this includes electricity, water,
Speaker 1: and finite minerals. Now, with a growing amount of AI,
Speaker 1: it's carbon footprint is only expected to rise in coming decades. Today,
Speaker 1: we're going to explore that early Red Flag's environmental experts
Speaker 1: are raising and what they mean for the sustainability of AI.
Speaker 2: Chol you have gone deep on this topic for us
Speaker 2: because I think we've seen a lot of headlines floating
Speaker 2: around lately about AI not being great for the environment.
Speaker 2: But it's a confusing space to start with. Let alone,
Speaker 2: before we get into the specifics of this, it does
Speaker 2: feel like a really new advancement. But I was surprised
Speaker 2: when you told me. AI is a term that was
Speaker 2: first coined in nineteen fifty five by an American computer scientist.
Speaker 2: His name was John McCarthy. But these days, when we're
Speaker 2: talking about AI, I think most people are probably thinking
Speaker 2: of what's called generative AI. So that's like open AI's
Speaker 2: chat GPT, right, so those chatbot based systems which are
Speaker 2: built on large language models, and that means they use
Speaker 2: these vast databases of online text and images to generate
Speaker 2: new content. Now that chat GPT has become so incredibly popular, though,
Speaker 2: people are turning to this discussion about its demands, So achold,
Speaker 2: what does it actually take to power generative AI like
Speaker 2: chat GPT?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so popular might just be an understatement. So since
Speaker 1: launching in November twenty twenty two, chat gpt has amassed
Speaker 1: around three hundred million weekly active users worldwide. Wow, I know.
Speaker 1: So every time someone asks chat gpt to complete a task,
Speaker 1: it uses around two point nine what's per hour of energy? Now,
Speaker 1: that's according to the International Energy Agency. To really put
Speaker 1: this into perspective, a recent study found that chat GPT
Speaker 1: consumes enough power annually to charge over three million electric
Speaker 1: cars or about fifty million iPhones.
Speaker 2: Wow, I got to be honest with you, I didn't
Speaker 2: know what what's per hour energy really meant. So that
Speaker 2: definitely helps put it into perspective.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely. Now, Chat GPT has dominated the AI space
Speaker 1: for the past three years that it's been running. However,
Speaker 1: this year we witnessed a new generative AI called deep
Speaker 1: Seek disrupt global financial markets and you probably saw headlines left,
Speaker 1: right and center earlier this year. Now, the Chinese model
Speaker 1: introduced itself as a cheaper, more energy efficient alternative to
Speaker 1: its American competitors. Just like open AIS Chat GPT, deep
Speaker 1: Sea can summarize texts, answer questions, and generate writing based
Speaker 1: on prompts. Now, what's really fascinating about deep Seek is
Speaker 1: that it performs just as well as the leading American
Speaker 1: AI systems, but only for a fraction of the cost,
Speaker 1: and it claims it can use up to forty times
Speaker 1: less energy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is a big claim from deep Seek, and
Speaker 2: I think we're all kind of waiting to hear a
Speaker 2: bit more about how it plans on achieving that or
Speaker 2: if it will really be able to offer the same
Speaker 2: service as a chat GPT. But when we think about
Speaker 2: the environmental impact of generative AI, it's not just about
Speaker 2: this massive strain on energy grids. There are other strains
Speaker 2: on resources right.
Speaker 1: Exactly right. The resources needed to run, support and train
Speaker 1: generative AI a house in these facilities called data centers. Now,
Speaker 1: while the exact figures are still being debated, it's estimated
Speaker 1: that AI data centers account for up to one point
Speaker 1: five percent of global electricity usage. Now that might seem small,
Speaker 1: but it means that a single data center could consume
Speaker 1: enough energy to heat fifty thousand homes for a whole year. Okay,
Speaker 1: these facilities are expected to use as much power annually
Speaker 1: as countries like Japan and Russia by next year. That's
Speaker 1: according to a recent study from mit SO. This raises
Speaker 1: concerns amongst experts who fear it could potentially put additional
Speaker 1: strain on electricity on global electricity grids, including countries like
Speaker 1: Australia where we are regularly experiencing blackouts.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hard to imagine, I guess in places like
Speaker 2: Australia where there is that strain on grids and uncertainty
Speaker 2: about you know what the long term sustainability of those
Speaker 2: grids looks like. Then this huge extra strain, it sounds
Speaker 2: like a lot of work. So ATOL, you've got these
Speaker 2: massive facilities that you've talked us through that store this
Speaker 2: large infrastructure and machinery. So we've learned that, you know,
Speaker 2: AI puts a strain on electricity demands because of the
Speaker 2: actual process of asking it questions. Then there's also the
Speaker 2: physical places where the computing lives. I can only imagine
Speaker 2: how hot those rooms could get. I mean think about
Speaker 2: like when you have a laptop, a small laptop on
Speaker 2: your lap, the fan is going into overdrive. It gets
Speaker 2: really hot on your lap. That's like a small laptop
Speaker 2: that generates that kind of a heat. I mean, if
Speaker 2: you've got this much machinery in these facilities, I'm sure
Speaker 2: it must get really warm.
Speaker 1: Oh exactly. I mean, AI centers need advance cooling system
Speaker 1: so basically keep the technology from overheating. Traditionally, data centers
Speaker 1: rely on air cooling to manage rising temperatures caused by
Speaker 1: the heat emitted from the hardware. However, this isn't quite
Speaker 1: sufficient for AI technology. So what that means is modern
Speaker 1: data centers are using liquid cooling systems that rely on
Speaker 1: water to keep temperatures between the ideal terms of twenty
Speaker 1: one and twenty four degrees.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm trying to write my head around this concept
Speaker 2: because the idea of water and computers pretty much goes
Speaker 2: against everything we've ever been told.
Speaker 1: Right exactly, But I wouldn't recommend throwing a glass of
Speaker 1: water at your laptop right now, okay noted, So researchers
Speaker 1: in the US predict that by twenty twenty seven, up
Speaker 1: to six point six billion cubic meters of water will
Speaker 1: be needed annually to meet global AI demands. That's equivalent
Speaker 1: to half of the UK's yearly water consumption. Okay, a
Speaker 1: lot of water, a lot exactly. These statistics raise concerns
Speaker 1: for climate experts, who basically say, in a country like
Speaker 1: Australia who experiences droughts regularly, this would be detrimental.
Speaker 2: With droughts. I mean, if we look at the climate science,
Speaker 2: its droughts are expected to intensify those kind of long
Speaker 2: periods without rain, and this water usage I can imagine
Speaker 2: for those climate experts. Kind of sounds an alarm exactly.
Speaker 1: Now. Water consumption isn't the only environmental issue linked to
Speaker 1: data centers. The greenhouse gas emissions released from these facilities
Speaker 1: are also sounding the alarm in the fight against global warming.
Speaker 1: Exact figures on AI's contribution to global emissions still remain unclear.
Speaker 1: The International Energy Agency estimates that data centers account for
Speaker 1: zero point six percent of annual emissions, while Science and
Speaker 1: Technology Australia say this figure has already hit one percent.
Speaker 2: So some kind of differences in the scale there, but
Speaker 2: anywhere between kind of half to one percent of emissions
Speaker 2: exactly now.
Speaker 1: Recent reports warned that if AI adoption continues at the
Speaker 1: current pace that it's going, data centers could account for
Speaker 1: fourteen percent of yearly emissions by twenty forty. Wow.
Speaker 2: Predictions like that, I mean, might just become a reality.
Speaker 2: If we look to the reports of rising emissions among
Speaker 2: tech giants using AI, they have been transparent about this,
Speaker 2: and I guess that's kind of why we've taken note
Speaker 2: and why we're talking about it today. What do we
Speaker 2: know from those tech giants about their emissions?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, in the case of Microsoft, in its latest
Speaker 1: Sustainability Report, it attributed a thirty percent increase in its
Speaker 1: carbon emissions since twenty twenty due to AI models and
Speaker 1: services that it provides.
Speaker 2: Wow, so Microsoft is saying that it's emissions, like the
Speaker 2: whole of Microsoft, increased by thirty percent because of what
Speaker 2: it takes to run AI.
Speaker 1: Exactly that. Now, despite this, we know that tech giants
Speaker 1: have no plans on scaling back their AI programs. So
Speaker 1: basically this means greater demand for infrastructure and resources, which
Speaker 1: brings us to mining. So lithium is one of the
Speaker 1: key materials used to produce the rechargeable batteries that powers
Speaker 1: AI technology, and Australia is one of the largest producers
Speaker 1: of the mineral.
Speaker 2: We have heard a lot about lithium in recent years.
Speaker 2: Of course, it's something that goes in phones, computers, batteries
Speaker 2: of all kinds. And you're right, Australia is the world's
Speaker 2: largest lithium producer. But we might not be forever.
Speaker 1: No, not exactly. So a twenty twenty study from a
Speaker 1: German university found that global lithium deposits could be depleted
Speaker 1: sometime within the next seventy five years. So with the
Speaker 1: rapid uptake of AI services. Some experts predict that lithium
Speaker 1: shortages could occur as soon as twenty forty now. Additionally,
Speaker 1: the amount of eWays generated through the frequent maintenance of
Speaker 1: AI equipment poses a significant challenge to Australia's waste and
Speaker 1: recycling systems.
Speaker 2: Wow, there are so many aspects to the sustainability concerns here.
Speaker 2: We've heard about the power it takes to ask chat
Speaker 2: GPT a question, the electricity and water it takes for
Speaker 2: these computers to be stored, and then we've also got
Speaker 2: this e waste and the mining of lithium to think about.
Speaker 2: You're right that AI isn't going anywhere. We are only
Speaker 2: hearing more and more about its advancements and how we
Speaker 2: can live alongside AI or integrate it into our life,
Speaker 2: into our work. But what are the experts saying about
Speaker 2: how we ensure that this technology doesn't set us back
Speaker 2: environmentally even while it might kind of bring us forward technologically.
Speaker 1: Well, that's exactly what global leaders are trying to figure
Speaker 1: out with the help of these environmental and technological experts.
Speaker 1: So last year in Australia, the Federal Senate launched an
Speaker 1: inquiry into AI to explore both its opportunities and its impacts.
Speaker 1: So the inquiry held six public hearings and received submissions
Speaker 1: from two hundred and forty five experts, academics, business leaders
Speaker 1: and members of the public.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of submissions. Were there any kind of
Speaker 2: common themes that came up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So the environmental impacts of AI was a major
Speaker 1: concern basically across all submissions and in its omissions. UNSWAI
Speaker 1: Institute noted that the impacts of AI are currently difficult
Speaker 1: to quantify due to few standards for its reporting.
Speaker 2: Okay, so I think that's kind of been reflected in
Speaker 2: some of the numbers we've talked about today.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 2: There's a bit of a range scope. There's not kind
Speaker 2: of a definitive regulatory body that says this is what
Speaker 2: AI is doing and these are the emissions that it's
Speaker 2: contributing and that kind of thing. So I guess that
Speaker 2: makes it difficult to get a real sense of what's
Speaker 2: going on. Right.
Speaker 1: So, Science and Technology Australia, which is the peak body
Speaker 1: for Australia science and technology sector, called on governments to
Speaker 1: ensure that renewable energy policy and net zero investments play
Speaker 1: a key role in developing digital infrastructure to support AI
Speaker 1: use in Australia. Now, what's interesting is that recent innovations
Speaker 1: show that AI can actually help us tackle environmental challenges.
Speaker 2: Interesting, I know.
Speaker 1: So the Federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources showed
Speaker 1: that AI could help address some of the world's most
Speaker 1: pressing climate change issues. The Australian Human Rights Commission said
Speaker 1: that AI has the potential to positively impact the environment
Speaker 1: in several ways, including by improving energy efficiency and enhancing
Speaker 1: sustainable practices.
Speaker 2: One of the interesting ones that the Federal government flagged
Speaker 2: I remember is how AI could be used for firefighting technologies.
Speaker 2: That they developed an AI technology that could detect small
Speaker 2: fires and predict fire behavior patterns, which is of course,
Speaker 2: you know, beneficial to the environment on the other side
Speaker 2: of this coin exactly.
Speaker 1: But despite that, the Australian Human Rights Commission did warn
Speaker 1: AI pose a significant risk. Now, ultimate knowledge is power,
Speaker 1: so by increasing transparency around the potential environmental impacts of AI,
Speaker 1: the risk may be mitigated atoll.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for breaking that down for us.
Speaker 2: A very very big, complicated story, but you've made sense
Speaker 2: of it for us, So we thank you for joining
Speaker 2: us on the podcast today. And thank you for listening.
Speaker 2: If you like today's episode, if you learn something, feel
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Speaker 2: We will be back a little bit later today with
Speaker 2: the evening headlines. Until then, have a great day.
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