While Artificial Intelligence — or AI, as it’s more commonly known — once seemed like something that was only possible in science fiction stories, these days, almost everyone has the technology at their fingertips. From the small things we may not even realize count as AI, like our phone’s autocorrect, to the big things that companies like Meta are doing, AI is just about everywhere.

The seamless integration of AI into our everyday lives has caused it to become so common, in fact, that it’s actually taking quite a toll on our planet’s natural resources. Just how bad is AI for the environment? Keep reading to learn more about the different ways this technology is impacting our planet.

A technology capable of doing everything that AI can do requires a lot of energy to perform. That energy comes at a cost, and according to Earth.org, that cost may include emitting a large amount of greenhouse gases. For those who may not remember, greenhouse gases are one of the leading causes of climate change.

The amount of energy AI requires to run will only increase over time. In fact, OpenAI researchers say that if the energy requirements continue at the pace they’ve been at since 2012, AI may be responsible for 14 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

Not only that, but developing and maintaining these technologies generates a lot of electronic waste. That trash can’t exactly go to a regular landfill either, since it contains toxic elements like mercury, lead, cadmium, and other things that can contaminate water supplies and soil.

Then, there’s the impact that AI will have on life itself. Driverless automobiles could be detrimental to wildlife, and targeted AI ads could cause an increase in wasteful consumer spending.

Scientific American says that the targeted ads that are powered by AI could cause people to lean more into fast fashion to keep up with changing trends. And it’s true of more than just clothing because these ads will be designed to interact with individuals at a much more basic level than traditional advertising can, causing these types of ads to have a higher success rate when selling everything from cars to alcohol.

It would appear that there just aren’t enough safeguards in place to keep up with the potential environmental dangers of AI. Not only does Earth.org say that there is a lack of policies put into place to help deal with the amount of waste created by AI, but the website also says that there isn’t enough transparency when it comes to how these systems are created and operated for the purposes of oversight.

While experts believe that the negative impact that AI has on the environment is cause for concern, it does seem like some of the smartest minds in the world are working on coming up with some potential solutions to help deal with the increased demand for AI-powered tools like ChatGPT.

Hopefully, they’re able to come up with some solutions soon because it doesn’t seem that the appetite for AI-driven tech is going to go away anytime soon.