AI is a relatively new topic. Everyone is asking if it is good or if it is bad. Personally, I believe that most of the time, AI is not helpful and a distraction. Students who use AI are missing out on significant learning, just so that they can get a good grade or do less work. Not only does AI harm students’ learning, but it also harms the Earth. AI has been found to consume high amounts of energy and contribute to climate change.

The data centers used to run AI websites use high amounts of energy powered by fossil fuels, which leads to carbon emissions and climate change. To make AI run, it needs lots of energy—usually coming from the burning of fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases that warm the planet. A single AI request has been found to use 10 times the energy it takes to make a Google search. In 2023, AI used 4.4% of U.S. energy, which is expected to triple by 2028.

Not only does AI use high amounts of energy, but it also uses lots of water. There are 0.26 to 2.4 gallons of water used per kilowatt-hour of server energy. Per day, the total is way more, using up to millions of gallons of water. The estimated use of water for one AI question could be up to 39 milliliters or 5 drops. The problem with this use of water is that the demand for AI is growing rapidly, leading to more data centers being built and increasing amounts of water being wasted.

Not only does asking AI questions use energy, but so does training AI. Training AI models involves thousands of graphics processing units running for multiple months. This task ends up using a generous amount of energy. In conclusion, AI contributes to lots of negative environmental changes.