AI data centers are consuming electricity and water from humans, scary revelation in UN report; There will be an outcry by 2030

The whole world is fascinated by the speed and technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI), but on the backend, AI is becoming a very dangerous threat to human existence and natural resources. A very shocking and frightening latest report of the United Nations (UN) has come out, in which it is clearly stated that the giant data centers running AI are consuming our electricity, water and land at a very fast pace. This UN report has shocked policy makers all over the world because the digital revolution we are celebrating is secretly putting an unbearable and huge pressure on global resources. These data centers have deprived more than 10 countries of electricity, UN warns. The figures of this report released by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) are shocking. According to the report, last year global data centers alone indiscriminately used 448 lakh watt hours of electricity. This huge consumption of electricity is more than the total annual electricity consumption of 10 small and big countries of the world. The United Nations has warned in very strong words that due to the rapidly increasing trend of AI, the consumption of electricity, water and fertile land will reach a very dangerous and uncontrolled level in the coming days. That scary scene of the year 2030, when more than 65 crore people will get electricity. The projections made about the future in this UN report are like a nightmare. According to the report, the power appetite of global data centers will increase to 945 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030. This electricity consumption will be three times more than the total annual electricity consumption of densely populated countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nigeria, where more than 65 crore people reside. This means that these machines alone will consume as much electricity as the resources needed to sustain the lives of 65 crore people. Water consumption has also gone out of control, robbing the rights of 1.3 billion population. The problem of data centers is not limited to electricity only, but huge amount of water is also being wasted to keep their servers running and cool 24 hours a day. The report warns that by 2030, the amount of water needed to cool these centers will be equivalent to the basic annual water needs of about 1.3 billion people in Sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, these data centers will completely occupy more than 14,500 square kilometers of valuable and fertile land across the world. Just adopting green energy is not the solution, understand the scientific truth behind it. Till now, environment and tech companies have been measuring their losses only on the scale of carbon emissions (Carbon Footprint) and have been harping on ‘green energy’ as the solution. But UN scientists have completely rejected this thinking. Scientists say that merely adopting green or renewable energy is not the solution to this crisis. For example, if bioenergy is used instead of coal, carbon emissions will be reduced by 70 percent, but in return water consumption will increase by 30 times and land requirement will increase by 100 times. Call for immediate strict policies on indiscriminate use of technology. Professor Kaveh Madani, Director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, has clarified the situation regarding this report. He said that this report is not against AI technology, but is a final warning to stop the unintentional and destructive effects it is having on the environment and make it sustainable. At present, about 20 percent of the energy of data centers around the world is being spent only due to AI, which is expected to increase to 40 percent by 2030. The United Nations has strongly called on all countries of the world to immediately make strict policies and use technology responsibly to deal with this global crisis.