Should I be worried about AI’s impact on the environment?

Dear Chatty,

I was telling a friend about how much I love AI. She asked me point-blank: aren't you worried about the environmental impact?

I didn't have an answer. I still don't, really. How do I reconcile using a technology that might be killing the planet?

~ Speechless in Seattle

Dear Speechless,

AI’s threat to the planet is real. You're right not to dismiss it, and your friend is right to raise it.

A new UN report projects that AI data centers could consume as much water annually as 1.3 billion people by 2030. That's a headline everyone should be paying attention to.

You can't change that the technology exists. You can't change that it's growing. What you can change is how you use it.

Intentionality is how you reconcile it. Thoughtless use — generating slop, running prompts for no reason, treating it like a novelty — is harder to justify. Intentional use, inside a clear purpose and a real workflow, is a different calculation.

Use it purposefully, or don't use it at all.

~Chatty

--
Dear Chatty is an advice column for AI and content dilemmas from Kristen Kent at Evergreen Content Ops. Clear answers. No panic. No BS.