The Rising Environmental Toll of Artificial Intelligence
As the QuitGPT movement gains traction, urging a boycott of AI over ethical concerns, a pressing question emerges: should environmental impacts also drive people to opt out? Research indicates that generative AI models, which produce text, images, and video, consume orders of magnitude more energy than conventional computing methods, with estimates ranging from five times higher to significantly more.
Global and Australian Energy Demands
According to the International Energy Agency, datacentre power demand is growing four times faster than all other sectors worldwide, projected to exceed Japan's electricity use by 2030. In Australia, energy market operators forecast that datacentre energy demand will triple within five years, surpassing the electricity consumed by the nation's electric vehicle fleet by 2030. Authorities also warn of substantial strain on drinking water supplies.
Prof Jeannie Paterson, co-director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne, highlights the lack of transparency from tech companies regarding AI's energy, water, and emissions impacts. "But it's clear that training models and running datacentres is an energy-intensive task," she states.
Comparative Energy Inefficiency
Ketan Joshi, a climate analyst associated with the Australia Institute, notes that consumer software for generating text, images, and videos is uniquely energy inefficient due to vast datasets and computational strain. He compares asking an AI chatbot a question to driving an SUV instead of biking—it adds unnecessary demand. "You might still get the shopping done, and that single trip alone may not even look all that bad in terms of cost or emissions, but what happens when that's all of your trips, and when all of society starts doing this?"
A study in the journal Patterns estimates AI's global carbon footprint at 32.6 to 79.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2025, with water use reaching 312.5 to 764.6 billion litres—similar to global bottled water consumption. In Australia, datacentre growth is expected to slow the energy transition, increase emissions, and raise power costs for consumers.
Is Opting Out of AI Feasible?
AI tools are increasingly embedded in workplace software, educational platforms, and services like banking and local government chatbots. Generative AI is also being deployed in supermarket self-checkouts, facial recognition systems, and medical transcriptions. "We're becoming immersed in this technology," Paterson says. "It's really hard to avoid. But we still have a chance to express our views about what and how we want AI to be used."
Small actions can help limit use, such as unsubscribing from AI platforms, excluding AI results from searches by adding "-AI" to queries, or avoiding energy-intensive tasks like text-to-video prompts. Joshi criticises tech giants like Meta, Google, and Microsoft for deeply integrating generative AI, likening it to the proliferation of single-use plastics in the 1970s. He views opting out as a meaningful act of resistance, though he expresses disappointment that QuitGPT often redirects users to alternative platforms like Anthropic's Claude rather than promoting complete abandonment.
Local Impacts and Community Responses
Datacentres, the physical hubs of the AI boom, are expanding rapidly, prompting calls for accountability. A coalition including the Clean Energy Council and Australian Conservation Foundation has proposed public interest principles, such as requiring datacentres to invest in renewable energy and water recycling. Adam Bandt, ACF chief executive, argues, "Big tech corporations should be forced to do their fair share so they don't drain our resources."
These facilities, often clustered in industrial areas, can affect local communities and wildlife with constant lighting and noise from air conditioners. Some communities have campaigned against proposed datacentres, emphasising the need for corporate engagement. Dr Bronwyn Cumbo of the University of Technology Sydney stresses that while AI's integration into life seems inevitable, "how it's part of our lives is something we can definitely control." Raising awareness enables critical thinking and informed questioning about AI's broader implications.
