The Real Cost of AI Will Shock You
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↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓
If you ask what is the environmental impact of AI, you’ll get two answers. One says it’s minimal and worth it. The other says it’s an environmental catastrophe. So what's the truth? We went looking for the real answers, and found something much stranger than we expected. Whatever you think about AI, somebody is already paying for it. Who, and how much? That's what we are here to find out.
Sources/References: https://sites.google.com/view/data-centers-impacts/home
00:00 Intro - Do you love or hate AI?
02:20 The scale of the problem
03:35 The long history of being worried about computers and energy use
04:57 Koomey's law and the efficiency of computing
06:38 How much electricity does AI really use?
09:12 Future of AI and the Jevons Paradox
11:06 How data actually centers get electricity
13:00 Build your own power plant?
18:05 The 3 ways we measure carbon emissions
22:33 Heat and the bottle-of-water myth
25:22 How much water is too much water?
29:55 The promise that AI will fix everything
31:39 Living next to a data center
34:00 Tax breaks, jobs, and other impacts
37:52 Does it have to be built this way?
41:12 Take our annual survey!
____________________________________
Want to dive deeper? Our friends at The Texas Tribune published a project called “The Next Texas Gold Rush” with the support of the Pulitzer Center that looks closely at the data center boom here in Texas–its environmental impacts, the political influences and tensions behind it, and the local reactions to it. Check it out! https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/next-texas-gold-rush-data-centers-and-their-impacts
Be Smart explores science questions you didn’t even know you wondered about. It is hosted and produced by Joe Hanson, PhD. We post new videos all the time, so please subscribe! If you enjoyed this video, hit the ‘like’ button, leave a comment, or watch another of our videos!
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A big thanks to our Brain Trust patrons: Baerbel Winkler, Bernadette Etienne, Brent Lopez, dani bowman, David Johnston, Ed Eyden, Eric Meer, Jaap Westera, Karen Haskell, Marcus Pingel, Mike and Patty Loftis
SPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES
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Please email biz@itsokaytobesmart.com
Stock video and images provided by Shutterstock, Artlist, and MotionArray
Music provided by APM
Written Joe Hanson
Edited by Steven Simone
Produced by Least Square Media and Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios
↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓
If you ask what is the environmental impact of AI, you’ll get two answers. One says it’s minimal and worth it. The other says it’s an environmental catastrophe. So what's the truth? We went looking for the real answers, and found something much stranger than we expected. Whatever you think about AI, somebody is already paying for it. Who, and how much? That's what we are here to find out.
Sources/References: https://sites.google.com/view/data-centers-impacts/home
00:00 Intro - Do you love or hate AI?
02:20 The scale of the problem
03:35 The long history of being worried about computers and energy use
04:57 Koomey's law and the efficiency of computing
06:38 How much electricity does AI really use?
09:12 Future of AI and the Jevons Paradox
11:06 How data actually centers get electricity
13:00 Build your own power plant?
18:05 The 3 ways we measure carbon emissions
22:33 Heat and the bottle-of-water myth
25:22 How much water is too much water?
29:55 The promise that AI will fix everything
31:39 Living next to a data center
34:00 Tax breaks, jobs, and other impacts
37:52 Does it have to be built this way?
41:12 Take our annual survey!
____________________________________
Want to dive deeper? Our friends at The Texas Tribune published a project called “The Next Texas Gold Rush” with the support of the Pulitzer Center that looks closely at the data center boom here in Texas–its environmental impacts, the political influences and tensions behind it, and the local reactions to it. Check it out! https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/next-texas-gold-rush-data-centers-and-their-impacts
Be Smart explores science questions you didn’t even know you wondered about. It is hosted and produced by Joe Hanson, PhD. We post new videos all the time, so please subscribe! If you enjoyed this video, hit the ‘like’ button, leave a comment, or watch another of our videos!
CONNECT WITH ME
____________________________________
Website:
https://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart/
https://www.instagram.com/drjoehanson/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/c/itsokaytobesmart
A big thanks to our Brain Trust patrons: Baerbel Winkler, Bernadette Etienne, Brent Lopez, dani bowman, David Johnston, Ed Eyden, Eric Meer, Jaap Westera, Karen Haskell, Marcus Pingel, Mike and Patty Loftis
SPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES
____________________________________
Please email biz@itsokaytobesmart.com
Stock video and images provided by Shutterstock, Artlist, and MotionArray
Music provided by APM
Written Joe Hanson
Edited by Steven Simone
Produced by Least Square Media and Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios
Be Smart
We give you deep answers to simple questions about science and the rest of the universe. And also dad jokes.
Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, PhD. He's a molecular biologist and an award-winning science communicator and journalist
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