19, August, and Lucien Bourcier (’26). “What Impact Does AI Have on the Environment?” Gonzaga University, 19 Aug. 2025, www.gonzaga.edu/news-events/stories/2025/8/19/what-impact-does-ai-have-on-the-environment.
This article published by Gonzaga University discusses the global impact of massive data centers and what A.I. is truly costing the planet. The author shares his concerns with OpenAI’s (creators of Chat-GPT), a planned project to build the world’s largest A.I. data collection center in Abilene, Texas. The project, which is set to be completed in 2028, is predicted to use the same electricity consumption as the entire nation of Hungary. Since the electricity use causes heating, and water is used to cool the hardware, these data centers require about 5 million gallons of water per day each, resulting in billions of gallons of annual water consumption.
This article is important because it urges readers to consider the larger scheme or impacts of A.I. use, and how it will soon affect us environmentally and economically. I think this information needs to be more publicly available to AI users and these matters affecting natural resources need to become voting matters, as it is disrupting the everyday life of thousands of individuals in the pathway.
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