With the ethical debate surrounding AI usage still going on in our society, many still argue whether an AI search result is just as bad as having AI write your essay. While this conversation can go on forever, we can agree that AI’s involvement in modern research is becoming more relevant. Even though AI usage is frowned upon when looking through the lens of plagiarism, the environmental impacts of it are also concerning. The water usage from AI data centers is very alarming. Data centers for AI servers need massive amounts of water to stay cool and function. And depending on where the date centers are located, the surrounding area may be affected.
According to an article in Forbes titled “America’s AI Boom Is Running Into An Unplanned Water Problem”, in 2023, data centers in the U.S. used about 17 billion gallons of water and the country is projected to consume between 16 and 33 billion annually by 2028. With AI usage only becoming more commonplace and prevalent in our society, only more and more water will be used. This is an insane issue for our country as the scarcity of drinking water only increases with every year, and AI data centers are posing a large strain on our supply. Many students don’t even realize the effects that AI has on the environment. Every search in an AI model wastes a certain amount of water, and even the automated Google assistant, that gives an AI generated answer regardless of if you wanted an AI result, is wasting water.
When asked if they knew about the water used by AI, one student, Achilles Sierra, exclaimed “I never knew that AI was using water!” With AI becoming so common, it is very important that people understand the effects from AI. Our students here at COS must make sure that they do their due diligence when it comes to researching and doing their work, and choose to not use AI. Even though it is only getting more widespread, and creeping its way into our preconceived notion of research, we as a society and college campus, must do our part to help the environment. This issue is not only prevalent on college campuses, but everywhere. The ethical and environmental issues will always stand unless action is taken to restructure the way that the AI data centers are cooled, or it is completely abolished,
