10/10/2026
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ | AI'S ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Artificial intelligence (AI), is the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings (Copeland, B., 2026). It also refers to computer systems that can perform complex tasks normally done by human-reasoning, decision making, creating, etc (NASA, 2024).
Although the use of artificial intelligence may have made certain tasks easier, contributed to significant scientific and medical findings, economic growth and opportunities, one question lingers like a repetitive whisper: "But, what's the CATCH?"
Artificial Intelligence runs on technology, machines, and infrastructures that deplete scarce resources in their production, consumption, and disposal, thus increasing the amounts of energy in their use, and exacerbate problems of waste and pollution. It also relies on data centers, that demands impressive amounts of energy to analyze, categorize (Brevini, B., 2020). The surging increase of AI developments have significantly increased environmental pressures and the rapid creation of larger models and data-centre based infrastructure has placed extreme demands upon critical inputs associated with electricity, fresh water, limited supply of minerals, and depletion of electronic hardware with a relatively short lifetime. AI has contributed to the ecological footprint concerning carbon emissions, water use, supply chain impacts, and electronic waste (Chouksey, A. et al., 2026).
Have you ever wondered what happens every time you tell AI to generate photos or videos of you following the latest AI trends or how about the times you use AI as an alternative for therapy in those late nights that make you feel blue? Well, in the study of Elsworth, C. et al. in 2025, they found that every AI prompt triggers inference in data centers, which consumes electricity and causes associated carbon emissions and water use. For context, carbon emission is the release of carbon dioxide (COโ) gas into the atmosphere, and it traps heat and causes global warming thus harming the environment and human health. It acts as a "heat blanket" that keeps making us warmer and warmer every year. At the same time, a short conversation of 20-50 questions and answers with ChatGPT (GPT-3) costs half a liter of fresh water (arXiv, 2023).
Although water usage varies significantly depending on the model of AI used, the complexity of the task, the data center's cooling system, and the local climate, if you think about the fact that you can easily point out 5 or more people that you personally know that actively uses generative AI everyday (maybe even including yourself) and calculate how many liters of water you collectively use per year using AI, the resulting number is wild. Now, let me ask you. Do you CATCH my drift?
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๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ป๐ฑ
๐ REFERENCES
Copeland, B. (2026) โ https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence
NASA (2024) โ https://www.nasa.gov/what-is-super-intelligence/
Brevini, B. (2020) โ https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720935141
Chouksey, A., et al. (2026) โ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecadv.2025.100029
Elsworth, C., et al. (2025) โ https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2508.15734
Li, P., et al. (2023) โ https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.03271
Researcher | Gliana Remee Nobleza
Pubmat | Almera C. Ariola
