The Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Water Use and Carbon Emissions

Sophie Lee
Jun 1
2 min read

Current Event Feature by Helena Dobro

Have you ever struggled with homework and just copied and pasted the given prompt into ChatGPT? It’s fast and easy… how will anyone know? Sure, artificial intelligence (AI) can be a great tool in our daily lives, making work much more time-efficient and simple. But do we truly understand the cost of these platforms? NASA states our Earth is warming at an “unprecedented” rate, with human activity being the main cause. Sea levels are rising, glaciers are melting, and the ocean’s temperature is increasing. These changes affect ecosystems, wildlife, and everyone around the world. While AI provides convenience and efficiency, its growing environmental impact raises important concerns.

According to “The Guardian,” AI systems have produced as much CO₂ in a single year (2025) as New York City, the most populated city in the United States, with an estimated 8.5 million residents. The city covers around 302 square miles and emits roughly 58.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. To compare, that’s almost the same amount of CO₂ as burning over 65 billion pounds of coal. Despite this, AI carbon emissions aren’t the only environmental concern. Artificial intelligence systems and data centers supporting them consume massive amounts of water, especially for cooling. The Guardian reports that the amount of water used by AI in 2025 exceeds the entire global demand for bottled water, which is around 704 billion liters.

This raises an important question of how we can balance the convenience of AI with its vast environmental concerns. Although AI offers great benefits, such as efficient learning, easy research, and much more, these platforms harm our environment far more than is acceptable. As future leaders, we students and consumers of these programs must be aware of these impacts and use AI responsibly. The ways in which we can help our environment are limiting an unnecessary use of AI and choosing platforms that are more energy/water efficient. Take the extra ten minutes to come up with your own ideas or the five more minutes to read over your work yourself. Small acts like these make a huge difference in protecting our environment.

The decision is yours: will you take the easy route with AI or use it responsibly and take care of our planet?