AIs Environmental Impact

Hello,

This is Simon with the latest edition of The Weekly. In these updates, I share key AI related stories from this week's news, list upcoming events, and share any longer form articles posted on the website.

As a regular reader of Plain AI, you'll know that I've primarily written about using AI in the workplace, how traditional AI, such as Machine Learning, differs from LLMs and Generative AI, and also lots about Agentic AI. The one subject that I have not really discussed so far is the environmental impact of AI. It's also a topic many companies don't want to talk about because it has a significant ecological impact from running all these systems.

In some recent research conducted by Alex de Vries-Gao of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and founder of Digiconomist, they estimate that AI systems produced between 32.6 and 79.7 million tons of CO2 emissions in 2025, approaching New York City's 52.2 million tons in 2023. It's not just carbon emissions that are an issue. Water consumption reached 312.5 to 764.6 billion litres, rivalling the world's annual bottled water consumption.

I overheard a conversation a few days back, where a colleague remarked that he knows someone who has grown so accustomed to using ChatGPT in their work that they use it for basic maths questions when a simple calculator would do the job just fine. You might not think a simple query like this will destroy the planet, but given the carbon emissions these queries generate, adding them all up shows a real problem.

If this concerns you, it's worth noting that energy consumption isn't uniform across models. For example, for DeepSeek R1 to answer 600,000 questions, it produces CO2 emissions equal to a round-trip flight from London to New York. In comparison, Qwen 2.5 can answer over three times as many questions (about 1.9 million) for the same carbon footprint.

But AI’s impact on the environment isn’t all bad. There are in fact some amazing use cases where AI is helping with sustainability and environmental efforts, which is something I will delve into in a few edition.

So whilst AI is a fantastic tool, do take a moment to consider its impact the next time you want to do something simple, or make just one more funny image. There's a real consequence to these actions.

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In this section, I highlight a real-world example of AI. This week I talk about how energy companies are using AI in smart grids to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

OpenAI has signed a major agreement with The Walt Disney Company, marking the first time a big Hollywood studio is licensing its characters (like Mickey Mouse, Marvel heroes, Star Wars figures and more) for use in AI tools such as Sora and ChatGPT Images. This deal also includes a $1 billion investment from Disney into OpenAI and will let users create short AI-generated videos and images featuring those characters

Why it matters: This deal represents a significant shift in how mainstream entertainment companies are engaging with generative AI going from fighting unauthorised use to officially embracing and monetising it

Adobe has integrated several of its key creative tools — including Photoshop, Acrobat and Adobe Express — directly into ChatGPT. That means users can now edit images, adjust designs, and work with PDFs simply by chatting with the AI, without switching between apps.

Why it matters: This turns ChatGPT into more of a creative workstation than just a chatbot, making sophisticated editing tools accessible to anyone, not just graphic designers.

Google is reportedly preparing to launch AI-powered smart glasses in 2026, featuring voice and contextual assistance from its Gemini AI making them a direct challenge to offerings like Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses.

Why it matters: Wearables could be how many people first truly experience AI in daily life going beyond their phones and computers

Thanks for reading, and see you next Friday.

Simon,

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