AI computing requires crazy consumption of power and fresh water! It may cause serious environmental problems

　　American scholars pointed out that AI computing energy consumption far exceeds traditional searches: simple question query consumes about 23 times the power of traditional searches, and complex questions (such as "How many gummy bears can fill the Pacific Ocean?") soared to 210 times. The energy consumption of generating 3-second AI video is equivalent to keeping the incandescent light bulb on for a year, and generating a high-definition picture requires half the power charged by the mobile phone.

Large data centers that AI depends on need to operate around the clock, process queries, store data and generate responses, consuming a lot of energy.

The energy consumption comparison tool developed by Professor Eporito of the University of Maine shows that the complexity of the problem is positively correlated with the amount of calculation. In addition, data centers require a large amount of fresh water to cool down. Data from the US Institute of Environment and Energy says that large data centers consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day, which is equivalent to the average daily water consumption of towns with a population of 50,000.