Generativ AI: Ett framtida problem för samhälle och klimat

Sammanfattning

In recent years, Generative AI has experienced a rapid increase in society and is now used all over the world. The purpose of this study is to find out how much energy and water a student in Lund, as well as all students in Lund, consumes when utilizing Generative AI. The method consists of a quantitative survey study that targeted students in Lund and was placed around Lund campus. The collected data was then used to calculate the average energy and water consumption per day, week, month and year for a student, and all students in Lund. The results showed that students in Lund primarily used ChatGPT and carried out 14 searches per day. The study showed that the average student in Lund uses approximately 1.8 kWh of energy and 6.5 litres of water each day. For all the students in Lund who use Generative AI use about 54 thousand kWh of energy, and roughly 202 thousand litres of water per day only by using ChatGPT. Though these numbers are approximations from the survey, it is clear that the AI-companies have to start taking responsibility and work on minimising the energy and water cost used by the AI datacenters.