From uninvited results at the top of your search engine queries to offering to write your emails and helping students do homework, generative artificial intelligence is quickly becoming part of daily life as tech giants race to develop the most advanced models and attract users.
All those prompts come with an environmental cost: A report last year from the Energy Department found AI could help increase the portion of the nation’s electricity supply consumed by data centres from 4.4% to 12% by 2028. To meet this demand, some power plants are expected to burn more coal and natural gas.
