WASHINGTON (AP) — As the United States rapidly builds large-scale data centers to advance artificial intelligence, many Americans are concerned about the environmental impact.
According to a new survey by The Associated Press’ NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, concerns about how climate change will affect the environment worsen.
As AI revitalizes work, communication and culture, it also raises concerns that rising energy demands could further damage the environment, the survey results in September showed.
It consumes a large amount of electricity in the AI. According to the International Energy Agency, electricity consumption from global data centers is set to double globally by 2030. The United States accounts for the largest share of expected growth by far, followed by China. In many places, power for data centers will come from power plants that burn coal, oil, and natural gas. Burning these fossil fuels for electricity releases carbon dioxide, trapping heat in the atmosphere and warming the planet.
Energy needs are so great that major technology companies are investing in next-generation nuclear technology, which can generate electricity without emissions, and quietly lower their targets for reducing carbon pollution.
AI uses a “ridiculous amount” of energy, said Aidan Collins, a 26-year-old Democrat in New York.
“Using all that energy and contributing badly to climate change, it all sounds pretty scary to me,” he said.
Worries more about the environmental impact of AI than meat and aviation
President Donald Trump unveiled a plan this summer for America’s “global dominance” in artificial intelligence, including easing environmental regulations to speed up the construction of AI supercomputers. The US Department of Energy has identified federal sites where tech companies can build data centers to power AI. Trump, a Republican, has made clean moves to prioritize fossil fuels for power generation and block renewable energy projects.
10 in 10 US adults say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about AI’s environmental impact. That’s more than the share of Americans who are highly concerned about the environmental impact of the cryptocurrency, meat production, and airline industries, all of which contribute to climate change and cause environmental damage. Bitcoin mining uses a huge amount of electricity. Livestock produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. And when airplanes burn jet fuel, it releases carbon dioxide.
Like Collins, several Americans said in follow-up interviews that they were worried about the energy and water required to power AI. Data centers require large amounts of water to keep them cool. Some communities strongly oppose data centers because they demand so much energy and water.
Aaron Gano, a 29-year-old independent in Ohio, said he is very concerned about the increasing demand for electricity, when much of it is provided by fossil fuels.
“They haven’t done anything in the way of cleaning it up,” he said. “They just keep building more and more.”
Democrats are more likely than Republicans to be extremely upset
Democrats are particularly concerned about the environmental impact of AI.
“I feel like it’s going to be more and more of a burden,” said Amy Feniwald, a 61-year-old Democrat in Minnesota.
But while nearly half of Democrats are “extremely” or “very” concerned, so are independents and a third of Republicans. Raymond Suarez, 60, who lives in Florida, considers himself a “strong” Republican. He worries that data centers will be built on land to be stored or used for other things, such as farming, and he worries that AI is becoming too pervasive.
“For them to rush it and for them to think it’s a huge thing, no, it’s not,” he said.
On the other hand, James Horner said that he is not at all concerned about the environmental impact. The 52-year-old Republican, who lives in South Carolina, said he believes artificial intelligence will be the solution to his own energy problem—that it will show how clean energy can be made efficiently, profitably, and that clean energy will be harnessed to power AI.
“It’s going to help everybody,” he said. “I think it’s going to be able to detect processes in our bodies that scientists, as smart as they are, haven’t figured out yet. With supercomputers, taking in all that data, I think it’s going to help everything, health care, the environment.
The expected legacy of AI is more negative than positive
Americans are more likely to think that over the next decade, artificial intelligence will do more harm than good to the environment, the economy, and society as a whole.
Doug Bowen, a 79-year-old moderate Republican who lives in Kansas, said he believes artificial intelligence will do more to hurt. He said that the demand on the planet’s resources will be as high as AI and the number of companies involved in the field will increase.
Americans are divided on whether AI will do more to personally help or hurt them. About a quarter say AI will do more to help them, and about the same share say it will do more to hurt them. About half say it won’t make a difference in their lives or aren’t sure.
Amanda Hernandez, a 24-year-old Democrat in California, said she became concerned after watching TikTok videos about the exorbitant energy and water demands. Hernandez said she thought she would be personally hurt by AI because she works as a cashier at a fast-food restaurant.
“I’m more concerned, as AI continues to develop and advance, that we won’t need just any cashiers or customer service people,” he said.
In Minnesota, Fannywald said she doesn’t know if her personal life will be helped or hurt by AI in the future.
“I think it’s a black box. I don’t know how we can know,” he said. “We really have no idea what’s next.”
