AI's emissions are about to skyrocket even further

Since 2018, carbon emissions from data centers in the US have tripled. For the 12 months ending August 2024, data centers were responsible for 105 million metric tons of CO2, accounting for 2.18% of national emissions (for comparison, domestic commercial airlines are responsible for about 131 million metric tons). About 4.59% of all the energy used in the US goes toward data centers, a figure that's doubled since 2018. It's difficult to put a number on how much AI in particular, which has been booming since ChatGPT launched in November 2022, is responsible for this surge. That's because data centers process lots of different types of data--in addition to training or pinging AI models, they do everything from hosting websites to storing your photos in the cloud.