Environmental groups embrace AI, even as they warn of data center impacts

Environmental groups are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze climate data, track forest fires and count endangered wildlife, despite acknowledging the technology's contribution to increased electricity demand, water usage and greenhouse-gas emissions. This contradiction forces these organizations to justify their AI use in combating climate change or protecting natural resources.

AI lead at the US nonprofit Conservation International, Ali Swanson, recognizes the environmental costs of AI but emphasizes its potential to help move faster and make better use of collected information. AI is being used by major environmental, conservation and development organizations to assess hotspots from satellite data and send real-time alerts about potential wildfires in remote and environmentally sensitive areas.

However, environmental groups are concerned about the environmental impact of the data centers powering AI technology, which can require vast amounts of electricity and water for cooling. The global dilemma of balancing AI's benefits with its risks will be discussed at the UN's COP31 climate conference. Organizations are finding that AI enables work that was previously difficult, expensive or impossible, such as Kenya's Save the Elephants using machine learning to improve population surveys and study elephant communication.

AI is also being used to digitize decades of field notes about chimpanzee behavior in Tanzania's Gombe National Park, drastically reducing the time required for the project. While many organizations believe AI's benefits currently outweigh its costs, they are experimenting with ways to limit its environmental impact, such as limiting resource-intensive applications and caching AI query results.