LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — Generative artificial intelligence has been on the rise in the last few years. Sites like ChatGPT, Gemini and Midjourney are popular worldwide, and teenagers often resort to using these modules as a way to avoid doing homework or research, and can even use them as a place to seek mental health counsel instead of bringing their problems up with a trusted adult or their friends.

The world is experiencing the effects of AI in real time, with one major issue being its impact on Earth’s atmosphere and our environment as a whole. 

“Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons (of water) per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people,” states the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. 

That estimated number is the same amount of water usage as the population of Los Alamitos and Seal Beach combined. 

This increase in water consumption has raised concerns in countries across the globe that don’t have available water resources and are dependent on imported water. The water used daily by AI data centers could be shipped to countries and communities in need, but is instead used to power a form of technology that has proven to negatively burden the environment. 

In 2023, Columbia Climate School: State of the Planet provided the statistic that data centers “account for 2.5 to 3.7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding even those of the aviation industry.” 

Artificial intelligence has caused the demand of electricity to rapidly increase and is expected to double or possibly triple by 2028. This new substantial electricity burden would cause pressure on electric power infrastructure, grid decarbonization, water resources, and surrounding communities.

However, there is hope to improve the current decline in our planet’s health. Artificial intelligence does not have to cease to exist completely, but regulations must be enforced. Because of how deeply AI has affected the planet and global communities, the transition to a better future will be rough, but not impossible. 

“If co-designed with community input and interests in mind, next-generation data centers could lower community electricity costs, improve grid reliability, and remove competition for water resources while avoiding hundreds of millions of tons of CO₂e by 2035,” as stated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Climate Project.

“Right now, I think the big problem is new emerging technologies, rapid scale up, and our current infrastructure, like, in the United States, and in most developed and developing nations, (that are) heavily based on fossil fuels. So, to meet all the energy needs, they’re using the preexisting coal-fired and methane-powered power plants to make all those energy needs,” said Mrs. Helm, a chemistry and AP Environmental Science teacher at Los Alamitos High School.

The current way companies are powering their data centers is detrimental to the environment, but due to pushback, these establishments have begun to shift into a different, possibly more ethical, process. 

“What will be interesting is (that) companies like Google and Meta are already starting to invest in companies that make what are called small modular nuclear reactors. So, instead of having one big nuclear reactor, they will have, at their data center, a tiny little nuclear reactor that powers the data center,” said Mrs. Helm.

AI has integrated itself into society very quickly, and many young people have become dependent on it, as well as many corporations shifting to use AI as a tool and implementing it into their organization’s structure. 

“I think we’ve already opened Pandora’s box. There’s no, as much as we may complain and protest, there’s no putting AI away,” said Mrs. Helm. 

Many who know this information feel very powerless and unable to fight for change. However, there are many impactful ways that the average person, whether they are a teenager or an adult, can make a difference. 

“I think, at the end of the day, public knowledge and public pressure are the things that make change happen. We need to make changes. In talking to others, in spreading awareness, in pushing our representatives and being vocal advocates for change, that’s how we make these movements actually happen,” said Mrs. Helm.

Artificial intelligence and its negative impacts are not a hopeless cause, but it’s up to everyone to stay involved and actively strive for a better future.