According to Johan Hansson, a researcher in applied physics at Luleå University of Technology, AI is like playing with fire in terms of its environmental impact. He states that AI requires extremely many resources, and the energy consumption and resource use of AI is not highlighted enough. Hansson notes that the simplest way to solve the climate crisis is to reduce energy and resource consumption, but AI will multiply electricity consumption enormously.
The exact increase in electricity consumption due to AI predicted by researchers has not been specified. Hansson explains that drinking water is used to cool AI servers, and AI servers are sensitive and cannot use just any water. He points out that in Norrbotten, conditions are different because the cold can be utilized, while in Virginia, many communities already have water shortages.
People think that AI is a free resource from heaven but it requires extremely many resources.
How much drinking water is actually used to cool AI servers globally remains unknown. According to a survey from the Internet Foundation (2025), one in five Swedes uses AI as a search engine instead of Google.
The simplest way to solve the climate crisis is to reduce energy and resource consumption, but AI will multiply electricity consumption enormously.
Drinking water is used to cool AI servers.
You cannot use just any water because they are sensitive.
In Norrbotten, conditions are different because the cold can be utilized.
In Virginia, many communities already have water shortages.