Artificial intelligence systems that ask users to pause to consider AI's energy consumption and environmental impacts are likely to reduce unnecessary AI use, new research by Oregon State University suggests. The findings, published in Science Communication, are important as AI is already using electricity on scales that can be meaningfully compared to households, factories and towns. For example, the electricity needed to train a large language model would power 120 homes for a year, the researchers note; one AI-generated image has roughly the same energy cost as charging a smartphone. With about 85% of the world's energy still coming from fossil fuels, every megawatt-hour that can be carved from AI's electricity profile is significant, says the study's leader, Cheng "Chris" Chen of the OSU College of Liberal Arts. "Despite AI's substantial environmental impacts, information about those impacts is rarely disclosed or effectively communicated to everyday users of AI systems," said Chen, assistant professor in the School of Communication.

Note: This is the second post in a three-part series that explores how CEOs are responding to some of the key challenges raised in the PwC Global CEO Survey. Imagine, for one awful moment, that someone you love has been hit by a car. Now imagine that when you dial emergency services, it isn't a human being on the other end but a digital assistant, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). In a nanosecond, the software has analyzed your call and signaled an AI-enabled ambulance. Despite rush-hour congestion, the ambulance reaches you in record time because it's able to clear a direct route using real-time and historic traffic data to control all the stoplights along the way.