BENGALURU: Generative AI adoption has accelerated rapidly, as AI not only drives business growth but also has the potential to enhance energy efficiency and support sustainability initiatives. However, generative AI requires processing vast amounts of data and significant computational power, which consumes large quantities of electricity, water, and other resources.
A recent report by the Capgemini Research Institute titled Developing sustainable Gen AI shows that Gen AI has a significant and growing negative environmental impact. However, many organisations are failing to appropriately track this growing footprint, which is jeopardizing their ESG (environmental, social and governance) objectives.
It says that 48% of executives believe their use of generative AI has driven a rise in greenhouse gas emissions. This increase in carbon footprint is projected to continue to grow. Organisations that currently measure their Gen AI footprint expect the share of generative AI-driven emissions as a proportion of total organisational carbon emissions to rise, on average, from 2.6% to 4.8% over the next two years. “To mitigate this, organisations are increasingly turning to renewable energy sources and optimising their AI infrastructure,” the report said.
The report notes that only 12% of executives who use Gen AI say their organizations measure the environmental footprint of their use, and only 38% claim to be aware of that environmental impact. Interestingly, only one fifth of executives rank the environmental footprint of Gen AI among the Top 5 factors when selecting or building Gen AI models, and more than half recognise that including sustainability as a key criterion in vendor selection for all generative AI-related requirements would reduce environmental footprint.
“If we want Gen AI to be a force for sustainable business value, there needs to be a market discussion around data collaboration, drawing up industry-wide standards around how we account for the environmental footprint of AI, so business leaders are equipped to make more informed, responsible business decisions, and mitigate these impacts,” said Cyril Garcia, Capgemini’s head of global sustainability services and corporate responsibility.
The report suggests that businesses should conduct a thorough assessment of both the financial ROI and environmental footprint of their generative AI projects before launch. They should consider whether they need energy-intensive generative AI technologies in cases where they could use an alternative. It also proposes that sustainable practices should be implemented throughout AI’s lifecycle, including hardware, model architecture, energy sources for data centres, and implementing sustainable usage policies.
Multidisciplinary governance models and effective policies and industry-wide collaboration between stakeholders across the Gen AI ecosystem will also be important for organisations that want to achieve safe, transparent, sustainable, and ethical generative AI usage, the report suggested.