I, Robot? It's Already Happening

By: Erin Kim

In the movie I, Robot, set in 2035, Detective Del Spooner investigates the alleged suicide of the U.S. Robotics founder with a suspicion that a human-like robot murdered him. During his investigation, Spooner uncovers a conspiracy that may enslave the human race. Amid the current widespread use of AI, several people are concerned about the far future: would excessive reliance on AI give it the ability to dominate humanity and the world we have created? Unfortunately, the destruction is already happening. 

Artificial intelligence is pervading every aspect of our lives. Whether it is writing an email, creating a timetable for the rest of the week, completing an essay, or pitching an idea for a new project, AI has made its way into our daily lives and has become an efficient helper, alleviating the difficulties and nuisances we once faced. However, due to the vastly accessible facilities brought about by AI, many remain unaware of the detrimental effects that every click, every search, and every unnecessary question has on our environment. 

For humans and all living organisms on this planet, water is not an optional resource for survival. Even without the widespread use of AI, billions of people suffer due to a major scarcity of water. According to the United Nations Environmental Report, almost half of the world’s population is predicted to face severe water stress by 2030. The excessive use of AI will only accelerate this change, and to a more severe level. According to The Washington Post, writing one 100-word email generated by ChatGPT is the equivalent of wasting a little more than one bottle of water, and repeating the same pattern for once a week for a year requires 27 liters of water. Once weekly for a year by approximately 16 million people—which is just 1 of 10 working Americans—requires a whopping 435,235,467 liters, which is approximately equal to the amount of water needed for all homes in the state of Rhode Island for 1.5 days. In addition to the general use of AI, the data centers that operate these machines need higher demands of water demands for cooling the AI servers. To dissipate the heat produced in the process of operating the servers, data centers use and evaporate up to 9 liters of water per kWh of energy used. 

In addition to the water footprint, AI has a growing carbon footprint due to the vast amount of energy it consumes, and being a catalyst in fossil fuel burning. According to the Columbia Climate School of Columbia University, data centers account for 2.5 to 3.7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. This data exceeds the emissions produced by the aviation industry. The energy of data centers is used to operate processors and chips, like any other computer systems. AI systems, like other computer systems, process information using zeros and ones. Every time the computer processes a certain amount of data, the numbers change their states between one and zero, and with every occurrence of this change, it consumes electricity and generates heat. For the centers to operate properly, the servers must be kept cool, hence the frequent and abundant use of air conditioners. A study done by Martijin Koot and Fons Wijnhoven estimates that the electricity use by data centers could increase to 1.86 percent of global electricity demand by 2030. AI will not stop developing—the more complex the technology, the higher the energy demand. 

The effects of artificial intelligence may seem intangible at the moment. However, the fear of artificial intelligence taking over humanity is not as far as people expect. It is slowly inching its way to us, first by occupying fundamental resources, which we are already deprived of. Without the development of sustainable methods of conserving our energy and water, the use of artificial intelligence will aggravate the impoverishment of our valuable resources. A crucial part of developing side by side with artificial intelligence not only includes becoming familiar with its use and rapid improvements, but also requires us to forestall any detrimental outcome it may have on our most important resources.

Works Cited

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Gordon, Cindy. "AI Is Accelerating the Loss of Our Scarcest Natural Resource: Water" ["AI Is Accelerating the Loss of Our Scarcest Natural Resource: Water"]. Forbes, 25 Feb. 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/cindygordon/2024/02/25/ai-is-accelerating-the-loss-of-our-scarcest-natural-resource-water/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

Koot, Martijn, and Fons Wijnhoven. "Usage impact on data center electricity needs: A system dynamic forecasting model" ["Usage impact on data center electricity needs: A system dynamic forecasting model"]. Applied Energy. Science Direct, ris.utwente.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/252516283/1_s2.0_S0306261921003019_main.pdf. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

Ludvigsen, Kasper Groes Albin. "The Carbon Footprint of ChatGPT" ["The Carbon Footprint of ChatGPT"]. Towards Data Science, 21 Dec. 2022, towardsdatascience.com/the-carbon-footprint-of-chatgpt-66932314627d/#:~:text=Carbon%20footprint%20from%20training%20ChatGPT&text=It%20has%20been%20estimated%20that,552%20tons%20CO2e%20%5B1%5D. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

Mclean, Sophie. "The Environmental Impact of ChatGPT: A Call for Sustainable Practices In AI Development" ["The Environmental Impact of ChatGPT: A Call for Sustainable Practices In AI Development"]. Earth.org, 28 Apr. 2023, earth.org/environmental-impact-chatgpt/. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.