Front cover story (See: Yang Yu, Jiahui Wang, Yu Liu, Pingfeng Yu, Dongsheng Wang, Ping Zheng, Meng Zhang, 2024, 18(12): 158)
The boosting development of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving an exponential increase in computing power demand, raising concerns about energy consumption and carbon emissions. To illustrate the environmental impact of AI, the carbon emissions of 79 prominent AI systems published during 2020 to 2024 were quantified. The AI systems in the top 20 of carbon emissions were found to reach 102.6 million tons of CO2 equivalent annually, potentially contributing to a substantial impact on the environmental market of exceeding $10 billion. Consequently, essential actions were highly suggested to be carried out to build a more sustainable future for AI.
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