AI Friend or Foe?

While the controversy continues on the less than ethical uses of AI in the publishing industry, causing many to take a stand that books written using AI exclusively will not be accepted, various shades of acceptance remain. Of course this travels the path of everything from spell check and grammar programs, to pictures purchased legally that can be slightly altered for optimum use when an author has a specific hair color and eye color in mind but the picture just doesn’t meet their criteria. What often gets ignored in these lively discussions about whether AI is friend or foe, is the enormous drain on energy.

I listened to NPR on the way to the LCLC conference where I am currently enjoyingmyself and look forward to a master class on the use of AI and other technology. There was a fascinating podcast talking about just how much energy AI consumes and the effect on dwindling resources, including water. For example, to compose a 100 word email takes as much energy as fully charging an iPhone. Now, that may not seem a lot, but multiply that by millions of people using AI on a daily basis, with the use only increasing over time and you have yourself a real dilemma. Here are some startling facts I discovered in my research on the topic.

AI requires computer power from thousands of servers housed in data centers; and those data centers need massive amounts of electricity to meet that demand. Northern Virginia’s hub will need the equivalent of enough energy to power 6 million homes by 2030, according to the Washington Post.
Goldman Sachs estimates data centers will be using 8% of total power in the country by 2030, up from 3% in 2022.
Since the water used to cool the data centers does not end up recycling the water like in our showers, each string of prompts uses roughly 16 ounces of water. That is 16 ounces gone…evaporated into the air nearly equivalent to if we were to drink those 16 ounces. Extrapolate AI use globally, and our already taxed water supply may suffer greatly. Microsoft admits that in the latest environmental report their water consumption jumped 34% from 2021 to 2022, reaching nearly 1.7 billion gallons, and this is a report from two years ago….think how much more our reliance on AI has increased in two years. Google reports its water consumption went up nearly 22% over the same period to a staggering 5.56 billion gallons, about 800 times as big as The Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.

Those were just a few of the stats I came across in my research. This emerging problem, without solutions, will become more acute as people increasingly rely on AI for many things. It sure gave me pause. I haven’t been a big fan of using AI for cover concepts to submit to Affinity’s cover artist, mostly because I’m not technically competent enough to figure it out. However, I’m sure I use AI much more than I think. But I must admit to reconsidering an exploration of this new and amazing technology simply because it is wreaking havoc with my other core values. I guess I’ll just have to find a happy medium and something I can live with. Side note: I did have a small amount of guilt over preparation of my fun little pictures, undoubtedly using AI to create the memes! Knowledge, though, helps my decisions for the future! As always, I encourage you to click the link below and see how AI has helped me present cleaner manuscripts to my editors through the use of Grammarly and ProWriting Aide.

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