The technological advancement of artificial intelligence is unstoppable and contributes greatly towards national innovation and the broader common good. However, when these advancements are silently destroying communities and environments, who is truly benefiting, and is it still serving the common good? 

Sustainable and transparent AI development is essential in order to ensure that technological progress does not undermine environmental justice. Irina Raicu, director of internet ethics at the Markkula Center is working to attract attention to this growing water footprint and better understand its impact in order to continue making AI a force for good. 

As a key part of this effort, Raicu partnered with the Next10 Foundation to convene a day-long conference, “AI and the Environment: Sustaining the Common Good.” The event brought together academics from a variety of disciplines, industry and government representatives, as well as students and the broader public, to explore the intersection of AI and sustainability. The conference consisted of six sessions: “AI’s Environmental Footprint—Development and Usage;” “AI and Water;” “Greening AI;” “AI for Sustainability;” “AI and the Environment: Business Implications;” and “AI, Regulation, and Environmental Law.”

Additionally, Iris Stewart-Frey, SCU Environmental Studies Institute professor, and Raicu applied for and have been awarded a $50,000 grant from Next10 to research how AI data centers’ water usage connects to water availability and distribution in California, specifically the direct impacts on communities in the Central and Silicon Valleys. In the city of Santa Clara alone, more than 55 data centers are currently operating, and more have been approved. These centers require drinking-quality water for cooling, and ultra-pure water for manufacturing the chips that are used within these data centers. In a 2024 report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, it was found that in 2014, data centers consumed “21.2 billion litres of water,” and in 2028, AI data centers are predicted to require “between 60 and 124 billion liters.” 

Although many technology companies have published reports highlighting their attempt to limit water consumption by their data center’s, most lack the specificity that is needed to provide a real understanding of how local communities and the environment are impacted by these centers' consumption. In an October Op-Ed published in the Mercury News, Irina Raicu wrote about the importance of such transparency and the disclosure needed from data centers; “While clean drinking water is one of the conditions required for the common good, its use by data centers also brings up issues of environmental justice.” She also authored another Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle in 2023 in which she urged the general public to consider AI’s overall sustainability, in addition to its immense potential.

“But in assessing their (AI-powered chatbots) usefulness, as well as their risks, we all need to consider their environmental cost, too,” said Raicu. “Unfortunately, most environmentally conscious consumers and lawmakers are not focused on this particular aspect of AI.”

 

Photo credits:

Top: Panel discussion with Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law, Betsy Popken, Santa Clara University School of Law Professor, Tseming Yang, and Director of the Internet Ethics Program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics,Irina Raicu, discussing " AI, Regulation, and Environmental Law at the “AI and the Environment Conference at Santa Clara University held November 1, 2024.

Mid: Logo for the "AI and the Environment Conference."

Bottom: A data center owned by Amazon Web Services, front right, is under construction next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Berwick, Pa., on Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, file)