Artificially Intelligent Naturally Dangerous (Environemntal Impact)
Artificial Intelligence Sustainable or not? Short Answer NO
A.I. requires High end technology in terms of hardware , software and power.
“Modern machine-learning algorithms use deep neural networks, which are very large mathematical models with hundreds of millions—or even billions—of parameters,” says Kate Saenko, associate professor at the Department of Computer Science at Boston University and director of the Computer Vision and Learning Group.
“To make matters worse, the network does not learn immediately after seeing the training examples once; it must be shown examples many times before its parameters become good enough to achieve optimal accuracy,” Saenko says.
Example :
MegatronLM ( smaller than GPT3 Model by Open AI ) in training ran 512 V100 GPUs consuming 27,648 kilowatt hours (kWh) over 9 days. The average household uses 10,649 kWh ANNUALLY according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Therefore, training the final version of MegatronLM used almost the amount of energy three homes use in a year.
In October, independent research firm Gartner Inc. predicted : “By 2025, without sustainable AI practices, AI will consume more energy than the human workforce, significantly offsetting carbon-zero gains.”
Problem and Solutions:
A.I. is available even for fun on internet without restrictons and almost anyone can use it , despite it being so exploitative of Earth’s resources.
Current Internet has a problem of being “Free & Unlimited” mostly and also being addictive that keeps businesses and consumers hooked.
A.I. poses many dangers (besides being too risky) and just like plastic , In an ideal scenario should only be used for important / crucial cases but that’s not the current reality.
Info sources :
https://www.techtarget.com/searchenterpriseai/feature/Energy-consumption-of-AI-poses-environmental-problems
https://www.pcmag.com/news/ai-could-save-the-world-if-it-doesnt-ruin-the-environment-first