A TikToker is warning about the hidden environmental costs of using AI tools.
TikToker Nik Pollina outlined the dangers of using ChatGPT for our everyday questions due to its high energy consumption. And now, Her viral video is making people rethink how they interact with AI.
"A lot of people don't understand the link between AI and global warming," the TikToker starts off.
She explains that while we’ve moved past the days of clunky computers with power boxes, we now rely on 'data centres' to process and store information.
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"All the computing goes on in these serves here," she explained, adding that these data centres require massive amounts of energy to stay operational and cool.
Pollina added that most of her knowledge about this stuff came from studying Information Systems and Analytics in college. But one fact she recently found out shocked her.
"One question to ChatGPT is equal to ten times the amount of energy it takes to do one Google query," she stated.
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"It kinda made me realise I need to be more mindful as to what I am asking AI."
Pollina supposedly posted the video after her sister asked her how AI could be connected to California wildfires.
She wrote in the description below her TikTok: "My sister asked me how AI could be related to the california wildfires after seeing a post and i realized maybe people arent aware of the energy it takes to run data centers (a good reminder for me too)".
She added in the video: "It's good to know this stuff because it's so hard to learn this type of information because it feels so foreign."
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The video has racked up over 1 million likes and 6,000 comments since it was released a day ago.
People are now having a range of reactions towards AI from worry to guilt.
"It’s so concerning that this isn’t more common knowledge! Tech companies should be more responsible for sharing their environmental impact so people are more likely to make an informed choice," one user wrote.
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Other people were overwhelmed and wanted to shy away from the knowledge writing: "I really didn’t want to know this" and "This is too much to process".
Another user admitted: "Omg, I ask chatGpt EVERYTHING if only I would have known".
Someone else commented: "I am glad you spoke about this, ever since i’ve known this before I always felt little guilty when i use chatgpt".