Before reading this article, I hadn't really considered the environmental consequences of AI. While I was surprised and a bit disheartened to learn about the huge amounts of water and electricity needed to keep AI systems running smoothly, I did also find it intriguing that AI could actually be part of the solution to its own environmental impact.
Google reduced energy use for cooling by 40 per cent at one of its data centres by applying machine learning from DeepMind, its AI arm, to forecasting variables such as demand and weather.
https://www.ft.com/content/323299dc-d9d5-482e-9442-f4516f6753f0