SPECIAL | Is AI worth the environmental costs?

In the US, demand for power from AI data centers is skyrocketing, driven by the intensive computational requirements of its models, which often require vast amounts of energy for both training and operation. Then there are also AI’s carbon emissions. In many cases, the electricity used to power the AI data centers today relies on nonrenewable energy sources such as coal or gas. Can we afford AI’s huge environmental costs? Landon Marston, an associate professor at Viriginia Tech’s Environmental and Water Resources Engineering program, joins The Excerpt to discuss how engineers and policymakers are approaching solving for AI in the long-term.

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