Artificial intelligence entered our lives for revolutionaries. Just see that the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry in 2024 went to researchers in this field. This can bring us a lot of benefits. But if we are not careful, many problems will also arise. When it comes to dangers of AI We quickly thought about the possibility that take our jobs or take control and turn against us. In addition, from an environmental point of view, the risks associated with energy consumption and pollutant emissions. However, little is said about the physical waste that is generated.
Therefore, a group of scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences and Reichman University of Israel conducted simulations with different scenarios aimed at testing the amount of waste that will be produced by AI by the end of this decade.
It’s not just trash. electronic waste They contain substances that are very polluting to the environment. Therefore, these dangers of AI should not be overlooked. It is important to take action before it is too late. If this is not done, the numbers that can be achieved are enormous.
AI dangers that haven’t been considered
Although AI may seem intangible to us, to program it we need a lot of equipment. That is, those physical elements that make up computer systems. This also includes a lot of chips and circuits that will eventually have to be thrown away.
Only in 2023 they were abandoned 2.6 thousand tons of electronic waste obtained as a result of the use of AI. With these tools becoming more accessible, their use is expected to increase significantly, and with it the amount of waste generated.
The study authors developed a model with three different scenarios see the dangers of AI when it comes to waste. In all of them, only generative AI was taken into account. That is, one that learns from human creations to generate its own new images, ideas, texts or sounds. This is, for example, what chatbots for example, GPT for chat.
Various scenarios have been created with different levels of production. In the most conservative countries, AI use has grown marginally, while in the most extreme it has increased significantly compared to previous years. The latter cannot be ruled out as the applications of generative AI become wider and more accessible.
Therefore, if we take this scenario into account, these scientists calculated an increase of up to 5 million metric tons from 2023 to 2030. It would be more or less equivalent to every person on the planet throwing away their smartphone.
What can be done?
Disposing of all this electronic waste will mean releasing very large amounts of toxic substances into the environment, such as lead, mercury or chromium.
It would be interesting to study electronic systems that do not use these substances. This is already under investigation; but this, logically, will take time. So in the meantime, if you want to reduce the danger of AI, your best bet is to proponent of reuse.
The authors of this new study believe that circular economy strategies in this area can reduce the amount of e-waste from AI. up to 86%. It’s worth getting started.
Source: Hiper Textual
