UN report projects AI data centers’ rising resource demand (opens in new tab)

A United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health report estimates that electricity used to power artificial intelligence could rise to 3% of global demand by 2030, while AI data centers’ water footprint could match the annual domestic water needs of 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Live Science interviewed Kaveh Madani, the report’s lead investigator, about choices users can make to limit AI’s environmental impact, including whether they need image generation o...