Ready to take a deeper dive into AI and sustainability? Explore these resources to learn more about the environmental impacts of AI and how people around the world are building a more sustainable future.
“AI has an environmental problem. Here’s what the world can do about that.” (United Nations Environment Programme): This article discusses the environmental toll of AI and what countries can start to do about that.
“Explained: Generative AI’s environmental impact” (MIT News): This article breaks down how generative AI models require immense computational power, leading to high electricity demands and carbon emissions. It also covers the significant water usage for cooling hardware.
“Sustainable AI in Action: How Your Organization Can Reduce Environmental Impact” (EY): This article discusses how organizations can make their AI usage more sustainable through various measures.
“Balancing Innovation and Sustainability: AI in Education” (LEARN Blog): This article is a great resource for students and educators, exploring AI’s environmental impacts and providing activity ideas for different subjects.
“How to cut the environmental impact of your company’s AI use” (World Economic Forum): This guide outlines four priorities for scaling AI sustainably, from optimizing the entire AI lifecycle to using cleaner energy.
“Ask a Techspert: What’s the difference between a CPU, GPU and TPU?” (Google): This article explains the different types of processors and how they are used for various tasks, including AI.
“Half of data centres are now using natural cooling” (The Guardian): This article, though older, shows how data centers are using outside air to reduce energy consumption.
“What Is Data Center Water Cooling?” (Sunbird): This guide explains how water is used to cool data centers, a highly efficient method of cooling.
How AI affects our environment: This video from ICT’s Daniel Herrera explores AI’s environmental footprint.
AI’s footprint – beyond energy consumption: This short video provides insights into how AI impacts different Earth Systems throughout its hardware lifecycle.
Breaking down the climate impact of AI: Produced by the CBC, this video explains where AI emissions come from and highlights innovative ways the technology is being used to help the planet.
Climate Change AI: A global non-profit that works to catalyze impactful work at the intersection of climate change and machine learning.
AI for Good: A United Nations initiative that focuses on using AI to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Google DeepMind: Learn how Google’s AI has been used to enhance energy efficiency within their data centers.
IBM Environmental Intelligence: This product uses AI to help with sustainability, climate change, and regulatory requirements.
Greenly: A climate tech company that helps businesses measure and reduce their carbon footprint.
AI for Oceans by Code.org: An activity where you can train an AI bot to classify fish and differentiate them from trash, providing a hands-on way to explore AI.
“AI and Climate Change” on Coursera: A beginner-level course that requires no prior experience and covers how AI can be used for climate change mitigation.
“AI and sustainability: difficult choices” by Topical Talk: A free one-hour lesson plan designed to help students discuss the environmental impact of AI and where it should be used around the world.
“What Uses More?” by the University of Maine: A free, open source tool used to compare the energy and water footprint of AI tasks like generating texts or videos with other digital activities like watching Netflix or joining a Zoom call.