AI School › Digital citizens · Lesson 125 of 130

🌱 AI and the environment: energy use

AI lives in huge computers that use energy and water: using it wisely helps the planet.

When you message an AI, the answer does not come from your phone alone: it travels to huge sheds full of computers called «data centres». Those machines work day and night, use a lot of electricity and heat up, so they need cooling, often with plenty of water. Training a large AI can require the energy of entire cities for days. AI is not «magic» and free of cost: behind the screen there is a real use that weighs on the environment. Knowing this should not scare us, but make us aware that every convenience has a hidden price.

This does not mean stopping using AI: it means using it wisely, as you would with water or the lights at home. Asking a thousand pointless questions «just for fun» burns energy that could serve important uses. At the same time, AI can also help the planet: it forecasts weather, improves transport, finds ways to waste less energy. So it is not necessarily the enemy of the environment: it depends on how and how much we use it. A good digital citizen turns off what is not needed, avoids waste and asks companies to use clean energy. Small choices, repeated by millions of people, make a huge difference.

🎒 Try it in class (or at home)

For a week note when you use AI to really learn and when just for fun; then think of one way to cut waste.

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