Latest news with #ShaoleiRen
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New study uncovers alarming effects of AI systems on human health: 'It's a public health issue we need to address urgently'
Artificial intelligence is transforming industries, but a hidden cost is emerging: its pollution footprint could put thousands of lives at risk. A new study warns that AI-driven data centers generate significant air pollution, contributing to long-term health issues across the United States. Researchers from the University of California, Riverside and California Institute of Technology have uncovered that AI-driven data centers are fueling a surge in air pollution with major health implications. As AI demand skyrockets, these massive facilities require enormous amounts of electricity, much of it generated by dirty fuel-burning power plants and diesel backup generators. By 2030, pollution from these power sources could cause up to 1,300 premature deaths per year in the U.S., according to the study. The public health costs associated with this pollution could reach nearly $20 billion annually, with increased risks of cancer, asthma, and respiratory diseases in affected communities. "If you have family members with asthma or other health conditions, the air pollution from these data centers could be affecting them right now. It's a public health issue we need to address urgently," said UC Riverside associate professor Shaolei Ren, a corresponding author of the study. Yet despite these findings, many major tech companies do not account for air pollution data in their sustainability reports, focusing instead on carbon pollution and water usage. The harms of AI-driven pollution aren't just local — they extend far beyond the communities where data centers are built. Backup generators in Northern Virginia, for example, have been linked to air pollution that spreads across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, adding up to $260 million in regional health costs. If pollution reaches its permitted maximum, that figure could soar to $2.6 billion per year. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Additionally, the study found that training AI models, such as Meta's Llama 3.1, can generate as much pollution as 10,000 round trips between Los Angeles and New York by car. As AI technology continues to expand, its pollution footprint could rival that of the U.S. steel industry and even surpass pollution from all vehicles in California. Despite these troubling statistics, solutions exist to curb AI's air pollution footprint. Stronger regulations could require tech companies to transition away from dirty fuel-based power sources and toward clean energy alternatives such as wind and solar. Policies that incentivize renewable energy adoption, such as tax breaks for clean energy-powered data centers, could make a major difference. Scientific innovation is also opening new doors. Researchers are developing methods to convert air pollution into usable fuel, turning harmful pollution into alternative energy sources. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
AI Linked to Growing Cancer Risk
As the artificial intelligence boom spirals to epic proportions, big tech companies are throwing heaps of cash into massive data centers throughout the world. Packed full of hardware to process AI queries, these data centers put out forest-melting levels of heat as they suck the life out of local energy grids and water tables to meet demand. They're incredibly noisy as well — pumping incessant mechanical sounds into quiet neighborhoods and driving away wildlife. And unfortunately, the public cost of AI doesn't end there. New research by academics at UC Riverside and Caltech is warning that AI data centers are also taking a massive toll on human health, in the form of diseases like cancer and asthma. The study, which hasn't yet been peer-reviewed, looked at the production output of AI hardware over the past five years, found that air pollution resulting from AI development could cause as many as 1,300 premature cancer and asthma deaths per year by 2030. That's on top of a cost approaching nearly $20 billion a year from the collective burden of health treatment, missing wages, and lower school attendance as a result of diseases caused by AI runoff. In 2023 alone, the total cost of AI-connected illness was $1.5 billion, the paper found, in an eye-watering 20 percent increase from 2022. The issue of air pollution is easy to overlook, because in most cases, the data centers are powered by local coal burning plants, which tend to be disproportionately located near low-income and working-class communities. It also seems wherever they go, AI data centers drive up the local cost of electricity, saddling their host communities with a burden not shared by the rest of the country, let alone by Silicon Valley or big tech's Wall Street investors. And though households living closest to AI centers and power plants face the most immediate health issues, there's no telling how far the consequences of big tech's sky-high power use will spread. "Unlike carbon emissions, the health impacts caused by a data center in one region cannot be offset by cleaner air elsewhere," UC Riverside researcher Shaolei Ren told Ars Technica of the findings. AI's air pollution impacts can be best summarized like the nuclear meltdown of Chernobyl — the deadly toxins spread far and wide with no respect for distance, affecting those in, around, and far away from the actual data center itself. "The data centers pay local property taxes to the county where they operate," Ren said in a press blurb about the study. "But this health impact is not just limited to a small community. Actually, it travels across the whole country, so those other places are not compensated at all." The authors of the study recommend tech companies adopt standard reporting procedures for air pollution and public health resulting from AI runoff — something the immensely profitable ventures are unlikely to do willingly. A range of big tech companies investing heavily in AI, including Meta and Microsoft, pushed back against the research in statements to Ars. A Google spokesperson said that the paper "promotes an inaccurate emissions estimate generated under false pretenses, undermining the progress of clean energy resource growth and creating a false narrative of health harms." In other words, this line of inquiry is getting under their skin. With the AI market set to inflate to $900 billion by 2026, communities are beginning to ask who's really paying the cost for big tech's lucrative gambit — and how much computer power we truly need to build a better world. More on AI data centers: Microsoft Backing Out of Expensive New Data Centers After Its CEO Expressed Doubt About AI Value
