AI and the Environment
AI needs huge amounts of energy and water to train; data centres and their environmental cost; but AI can also help — predicting weather, monitoring deforestation, optimising energy; trade-offs
What a learner can do afterwards
- Explain that training AI models uses a lot of electricity and water
- Give at least two examples of AI being used to help the environment
- Describe the trade-off between AI's environmental cost and its environmental benefits
The lesson
You already know that AI models learn by training on huge amounts of data. That training happens on powerful computers in buildings called data centres, and it can run for weeks. Running those computers uses a huge amount of electricity, and they get so hot that data centres need lots of water just to cool them down.
AI can also help protect the planet. Scientists use it to scan satellite photos of forests and spot exactly where trees are disappearing, so rangers know where to check. AI can also study huge amounts of weather data to predict storms earlier, and it can help power companies pick the best moments to use wind and solar energy instead of fossil fuels.
AI is not simply good or simply bad for the planet. It costs energy and water to build and run, but it can also help solve environmental problems. People weigh that cost against the benefit before deciding to use it.
Training AI uses real electricity and water, but AI can also help protect the environment, so the question is whether the benefit is worth the cost.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.