Behind the seamless user experiences and efficient services offered by AI lies a rapidly growing yet often overlooked concern: its environmental toll. Experts are sounding the alarm as every chatbot conversation and personalised suggestion comes with a hefty energy price tag – far greater than what we are accustomed to today. For instance, the average ChatGPT query consumes nearly ten times the electricity of a Google search, and the AI platform’s daily electricity consumption is approximately 17,000 times more than the average US household. ^[The problem is only going to get bigger – in 2024, 65% of people surveyed by McKinsey & Company report that their organisations regularly use generative AI, and funding for the tech surged nearly eight-fold from 2022 to 2023, hitting $25.2 billion, signalling an impending influx of AI solutions in the marketplace.

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