--- title: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe: AI and Climate Change description: TIME Chief Climate Officer Shyla Raghav explores artificial intelligence and how it impacts energy use. canonical: https://time.com/7175088/artificial-intelligence-energy-use/ author: Andrew Johnson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-11-12T15:43:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:48:24.477Z article:section: Climate og:title: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe: AI and Climate Change og:description: TIME Chief Climate Officer Shyla Raghav explores artificial intelligence and how it impacts energy use. og:url: https://time.com/7175088/artificial-intelligence-energy-use/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72b5b6d45d42b66a/698a9c1f929fad4a09c03a61/ai-data-center-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2122 og:image:height: 1194 og:image:alt: Drone Shot of Data Center in North Dakota og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe: AI and Climate Change twitter:description: TIME Chief Climate Officer Shyla Raghav explores artificial intelligence and how it impacts energy use. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72b5b6d45d42b66a/698a9c1f929fad4a09c03a61/ai-data-center-climate-change.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe: Artificial Intelligence > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=12d3d0aa-a150-4667-9b02-3d5f5c0424ab&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe: Artificial Intelligence [Watch (HLS stream): The Good, the Bad, and the Maybe: Artificial Intelligence](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WlpwmI4r.m3u8) (3:17)  _Published 2024-11-11. TIME CO2 Chief Climate Officer Shyla Raghav explores artificial intelligence and how it impacts energy use._ by [Andrew Johnson](https://time.com/author/andrew-johnson/) and [Shyla Raghav](https://time.com/author/shyla-raghav/) Nov 12, 2024 3:43 PM UTC TIME CO2 Chief Climate Officer Shyla Raghav explores artificial intelligence and how it impacts energy use. by [Andrew Johnson](https://time.com/author/andrew-johnson/) and [Shyla Raghav](https://time.com/author/shyla-raghav/) Nov 12, 2024 3:43 PM UTC Did you know that the expansion of AI will [require](https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/6b2fd954-2017-408e-bf08-952fdd62118a/Electricity2024-Analysisandforecastto2026.pdf) as much new energy as some countries? TIME Chief Climate Officer Shyla Raghav explores artificial intelligence and how it impacts energy use. ## Transcript [00:00] I want to talk about a topic that's equal parts [00:03] fascinating and daunting as someone that's in the climate space, [00:07] AI or artificial intelligence, [00:09] specifically, how AI is impacting energy use. [00:13] The truth is AI has massive potential, [00:16] but also has some serious energy needs. [00:18] So let's take a quick look at the good, [00:20] the bad, and the maybe of AI and energy. [00:25] First, the good news. [00:28] AI has some real potential to do good for the planet. [00:31] AI is already helping us optimize energy grids, [00:34] kind of like a super powered traffic cop, but for electricity. [00:38] It's even helping cities like Barcelona and Singapore manage their energy use better. [00:42] Imagine a world where AI predicts exactly how much energy [00:46] a city needs based on weather patterns and even when we do laundry. [00:50] AI is also being used in agriculture to optimize water use, [00:54] which is huge for conserving natural resources. [00:56] So yeah, AI isn't just winning chess games. [00:59] It's winning at sustainability, too. [01:03] But of course, where there's good, there's also a bad. [01:07] And in AI's case, the bad is a huge energy drain. [01:10] Running these super smart algorithms, [01:13] especially deep learning ones, [01:15] is like feeding a very, very hungry beast. [01:18] One study found that training just one AI model can [01:21] emit as much carbon as five cars over their entire lifetime. [01:26] And a search on chat GPT uses [01:29] ten times more energy than searching the same thing on Google. [01:33] All that data crunching needs an insane amount of energy, [01:36] and that's not even counting the electricity needed to cool these massive data centers. [01:41] And here's a fun fact for you. [01:42] The average data center uses [01:44] about as much electricity as 50,000 homes. Just think about that. [01:49] What we do online is powered by [01:52] a warehouse full of servers that could basically run a small city. [01:56] And even if we wanted all that energy to be 100% green, [02:00] we're struggling to get stable, [02:02] renewable energy sources connected to the grid fast enough. [02:06] This means that a lot of utilities are keeping coal fired power plants in [02:11] play and are even constructing [02:13] new natural gas ones to satisfy this enormous demand for energy. [02:20] And now the maybe. Maybe AI can fix this whole energy thing. [02:26] Google, for example, is already using AI to manage its own data centers, [02:30] and it's helped reduce energy use for cooling by 30%. [02:33] Not bad for a tech company that processes 40,000 search queries per second. [02:38] If AI can help make its own energy use more efficient, [02:41] it's like AI is learning to put itself on an energy diet. [02:45] AI has a huge role to play in tackling some of [02:47] our biggest challenges from improving energy efficiency to fighting climate change. [02:52] But like anything powerful, [02:53] we need to use it wisely. [02:55] This means utilities, chip manufacturers, tech companies, [03:00] consumers, and regulators need to figure out [03:03] a plan to manage the growth of AI sustainably. 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