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trashregister.bsky.social
@trashregister.bsky.social
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Climate change, brass instruments, nature facts, comedy. Reposts and likes are not an endorsement. Views are my own.
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thegarbagequeen.bsky.social
If you care about the planet I am begging of you to not use and try your best not to engage with generative-AI. It won't just make us miss our climate goals; it'll kill us too. I sincerely wish I was being dramatic, but the current trajectory for its impact on climate, water, and waste is not good.
ketanjoshi.co Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Dec 9
New paper on the air pollution impacts of AI data centres ->

"...by 2030 an additional 1,300 people may die prematurely each year as a result.

That would be a 36% increase over the current annual asthma-related deaths in the country"

www.businessinsider.com/ai-20-billio...
The team of researchers from the University of California at Riverside and the California Institute of Technology conducted what they say may be the first study of its kind assessing AI's impacts on air pollution. The paper, "The Unpaid Toll: Quantifying the Public Health impact of AI," which will be released later today, finds that the generation of electricity for data centers hosting artificial intelligence applications could pollute the air so much that by 2030 an additional 1,300 people may die prematurely each year as a result. That would be a 36% increase over the current annual asthma-related deaths in the country. The researchers — led by Shaolei Ren of UC Riverside and CalTech's Adam Wierman — examined the release of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less, which can penetrate deep into the lungs, by power plants and diesel generators associated with AI facilities. "There is something like this, air pollution, which is affecting people right now," Ren said in an interview. "We aren't paying attention to it at all." The researchers estimate that the generation of electricity for AI data centers could trigger roughly 600,000 asthma symptom cases a year by 2030. Last year, the researchers estimate, the generative AI boom led to a public health burden of $5.6 billion. By 2030, they calculated, AI's electricity-related public health costs will top $20 billion. That's more than double the public-health costs of coal-based US steelmaking, they write, and will rival the emissions produced by California's 35 million cars.
December 9, 2024 at 8:32 PM