AI Use

The rapid increase in the use of AI is contributing 2025 to be on track to be the second hottest year, just behind 2024. The Earth has been experiencing climate change for over 100 years, but within the last couple of decades, the effects have become more severe and prominent. Many large companies, such as Google or Microsoft, have been working to become more climate-friendly and use renewable energy, but their efforts have been halted due to the rise of AI. 

Due to AI, Google’s carbon emissions have risen by 51% since 2019. Regardless of their attempts to go completely green, AI’s surge in usage within the last few years have slowed their work as AI poses a new complication. 

AI has numerous effects on the environment, but the most significant is the amount of energy it uses. Asking ChatGPT a simple question takes 10 times more energy than asking the same question to a standard online search engine. In addition, training an AI model uses as much energy as 100 U.S. homes use in one year. 

Datacentres total electricity consumption could double from 2022 levels to 1,000TWh in 2026, approximately Japan’s level of electricity demand, according to the International Electricity Agency. 

The amount of energy is not the only consequence of AI usage. One of the most needed resources, water, is also being consumed. Researchers estimate that AI will use 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water by the year 2027. 

AI runs on high-powered systems in data centers that require cooling in order for them not to overheat. This cooling is done by using an evaporation cooling method which mists water over the systems. The water then evaporates, bringing the heat with it and cooling the system.  This method is efficient, but the water being used is needed across the world for human consumption. 

Despite these effects, many people use AI platforms such as ChatGPT or Google Gemini in their everyday lives without knowing how much it is changing the environment. 

The average high school student uses AI about 2 times a day. If this number is multiplied by every high school student in the country and the world, then that number will grow, creating a large use of AI every single day. 

“I feel like if people knew about this, they wouldn’t use AI as much, especially because it's wrecking the world we live in today, and it's unhealthy for our environment,” NHS sophomore Kailyn Lahey said. 

The majority of students have never learned about the repercussions of AI, but most are willing to change how they use it if they knew what it really did. 

This seems to be a common thought of students at NHS, as most have heard about other pros and cons of AI, but the environmental cons have not been frequently brought up in society or school. 

“This is really bad for the environment, and I don’t know why people are thinking AI is so good when it's doing that to the earth,” NHS junior Natalie DelCampo said.

Besides what AI is doing for the earth now, there are concerns about how this will affect future generations and what will happen in the upcoming years.

“This is another reason that we have to be more cautious about moving forward,” NHS social studies teacher Candi Dietter said.. 

The use of AI is not slowing down, particularly in businesses and corporations. The adoption rate of AI into organizations has increased by 78% from 2023 to 2024, meaning that the number of businesses and organizations using AI has more than doubled within one year.

 “I think that this should be a focus because if AI is gaining so much popularity that will mean the environment will just get worse and worse with time,” NHS junior Clare Csaszar said.