The editorial represents the opinion of the Editorial Board, composed of the editors of all the sections of the X-Ray. After the Editorial Board discusses current issues at length, the Editors-in-Chief write the editorial so that it reflects the official opinion of the X-Ray staff.

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become more widely used and accessible, with things such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini being introduced to the world. Social Media has also integrated AI into its platforms, with features such as MetaAI on Instagram and an AI chatbot on Snapchat. This raises the question of the ethicality of Artificial Intelligence as it pertains to the environment. 

AI uses up a lot of energy: according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “the computational power required to train generative AI models […] can demand a staggering amount of electricity, which leads to increased carbon dioxide emissions and pressures on the electric grid.” The amount of carbon dioxide that training AI produces is off the charts: according to East Carolina University, training can produce about 626,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. This amount of carbon dioxide is “the equivalent of 300 round-trip flights between New York and San Francisco, or nearly five times the lifetime emissions of the average car,” and AI is growing even more unsustainable. “Newer AI models are getting bigger – and more energy-intensive. Bigger models require the use of more and more powerful graphics processing units (GPUs), and take longer to train – using up more resources and energy,” explained East Carolina University. 

When excessive amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere, it causes an imbalance in ecosystems and therefore drives climate change.
Penn State explained how, “AI models consume enormous amounts of fossil-fuel-based electricity, significantly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. The need for advanced cooling systems in AI data centers also leads to excessive water consumption, which can have serious environmental consequences in regions experiencing water scarcity.”
We can all make an effort to use less AI for things that can easily be done without it, so as to minimize our impact on the environment.