Microsoft promised to fight climate change – then came genAI – Computerworld

And then there is perhaps the biggest problem with nuclear power. The same technology used to make fuel for nuclear power plants can also be used to make nuclear weapons – and nuclear power plants are extremely unsafe. The Union of Concerned Scientists warns: “The NRC [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] has regularly downplayed the threat of nuclear terrorism and relaxed its security drill requirements to meet industry pressure to cut costs.”

GenAI and environmental problems

The use of nuclear energy is not the only environmental problem created by the rise of GenAI tools and platforms like Microsoft's Copilot. This is because GenAI requires enormous computing power compared to traditional technologies. GenAI must first be trained. Once trained, it uses complex calculations to process each incoming request. This, in turn, requires the construction of huge data centers that consume enormous amounts of electricity.

Scientific American reports that researchers say OpenAI's GPT-3, on which Copilot is based, “has 175 billion parameters, consumed 1,287 megawatt hours of electricity, and generated 552 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, the equivalent of driving 123 gasoline-powered passenger cars in a year. And that's just preparing the model for launch before it's used by consumers.”