Big Tech is currently performing a rather awkward fan dance, trying to cover up its rape and pillage of the earth’s more finite resources with its rapidly shrinking green credentials. Silicon Valley’s green credentials may, however, soon vanish altogether under the vast amount of e-waste the rapid rollout of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has already started to generate.
Measures such as the installation of waterless urinals and charging points for e-vehicles for Big Tech staff are merely Silicon Valley window dressing for what has always been an incredibly dirty and polluting industry. Named after the material used to manufacture semiconductors in Intel’s chip fabrication plants, Silicon Valley began with an ugly reputation for allowing vast amounts of toxic chemicals to seep into the local environment, allegedly making their way into the bodies of workers and children. Californian locals ruefully commented that the area should be renamed “Cyanide Valley”, as the notorious poison, which is used in the manufacture of semi-conductors, was claimed to have seeped into local soil and water sources.
E-waste to grow 1,000 times by 2030
Despite encouraging users to dispose of old devices responsibly, Big Tech’s current dominance of the mobile computing sector also leads to vast tonnages of toxic waste being disposed of in landfills, rivers, and seas across the world in the form of discarded devices that contain toxic metals including lead, chromium, platinum, nickel, palladium, and others. But the rollout of generative AI is poised to make Big Tech’s record for polluting the planet a whole lot worse. According to recent scientific studies, generative AI could create close to 1,000 times more electronic waste by 2030.
“Our findings indicate that this e-waste stream could increase, potentially reaching a total accumulation of 1.2 to 5 million tonnes during 2020 to 2030,” reports the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Reichman University in Israel.
The researchers added that the technological pace of AI innovation would inevitably result in “rapid server turnover,” leading to the rapid generation of endless acres of discarded computing hardware.
AI adoption “a growing concern”
Shoeb Javed, chief product officer (CPO) at process intelligence platform iGrafx, told Cyber Intelligence: “The environmental implications of AI adoption is a growing concern, and it’s clear that the rush to implement AI technologies comes with significant costs… Instead of pushing full throttle on AI, a more thoughtful, measured strategy could help align technological advancement with environmental responsibility,” added Javed.
According to Maxim Matrenitski, chief executive of Everminer and Cyberian Mine and a pioneer of sustainable Bitcoin mining with hydropower: “From my experience in Bitcoin mining, I see a crucial lesson for the AI industry: rapid growth demands responsibility…Maybe it’s time to apply the brakes a bit on AI’s growth to balance innovation with sustainability—so we don’t end up with a tech landscape plagued by e-waste, energy shortages, and an AI arms race.”
Unless Big Tech can soon find effective ways to deal with the mountains of e-waste it is generating, it may find itself handed the biggest clean-up bill in history by governments on both sides of the Atlantic.
