#13: The climate impact of AI - Shaolei Ren

The Deep View: Conversations

I sat down with Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, to break down his recent research into the water consumption, electricity consumption and public health impact of the data centers being used to power generative AI.

Episode Links:

• The water consumption of GenAI: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.03271
• The public health crisis of GenAI: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.06288
• Water consumption VS water use: https://www.wri.org/insights/whats-difference-between-water-use-and-water-consumption
• Pepsi Co’s water consumption: https://www.pepsico.com/our-impact/esg-topics-a-z/water#approach
• Google and Microsoft’s water consumption: https://www.thedeepview.co/p/google-emissions-are-spiking-due-to-increased-energy-demands-of-ai
• Elon Musk’s Memphis data center: https://www.thedeepview.co/p/the-public-health-crisis-of-artificial-intelligence

Outline:

0:00 – Intro
1:27 – The water consumption of AI
7:30 – The difference between water ‘consumption’ and water ‘use’
16:15 – The impact of reasoning models
18:03 – A solution to AI’s water problem
19:58 – The public health cost of AI
27:55 – Addressing the problem
33:52 – The dichotomy of the AI industry
42:37 – A cost-benefit analysis
48:49 – Looking ahead

Get The Deep View — your daily source for in-depth, fact-based reporting on artificial intelligence — in your inbox every morning. Subscribe here!

Connect with us on X, TikTok and Instagram.

Artificial intelligence is a complicated topic, bound by a number of complex threads — technical science, ethics, safety, regulation, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, investment and — above all — humanity. On The Deep View: Conversations, Ian Krietzberg, host and Editor-in-Chief at The Deep View, breaks it all down, cutting through the hype to make clear what's important and why you should care.