AI Could Devastate the Environment, but Help Is on the Way

As artificial intelligence rapidly advances, consuming substantial energy and threatening environmental harm, companies are seeking solutions to lessen its ecological impact.

Browser company Opera announced its plans to deploy a new AI cluster powered entirely by green energy in Keflavik, Iceland, on Wednesday. All of the company’s flagship browsers already boast native AI features, and the company said it believes AI will soon take on a role beyond that of a chatbot and help users perform more elaborate browser tasks, requiring more AI computing power.

“Data Centers dissipate a massive amount of power,” Benjamin Lee, a Computer and Information Science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told Tech Times in an interview. “Hyperscale data centers, such as the ones built by the largest technology companies, dissipate tens of megawatts of power. We estimate that such data centers already use more power than the state of Massachusetts. Moreover, power usage is growing rapidly.”

To read what Ilia Badeev, Head of Data Science at Trevolution Group, said, click here