Air pollution from AI could surpass that of all the cars in California

The data centers powering the AI industry are fueling higher levels of dangerous air pollution, according to new research. In a paper titled The Unpaid Toll: Quantifying the Public Health Impact of AI, scientists say this pollution could lead to up to 1,300 premature deaths each year by 2030. On top of that, the public health costs—ranging from treating cancer and asthma to covering missed work and school days—are estimated to be hitting around $20 billion annually.

When we talk about the costs of AI, it’s often discussed in terms of electricity consumed, carbon released into the atmosphere, and water needed to operate massive data centers. “While those costs are really important, they are not what’s going to impact the local communities where data centers are being built,” coauthor Adam Wierman, director of Information Science and Technology at Caltech, said in a statement.

As AI becomes more deeply embedded in daily life, the resulting air pollution in the form of lung-penetrating fine particles and other federally regulated pollutants, including nitrogen oxides, is only expected to increase. By 2030 the public health burden is expected to be double that of the U.S. steelmaking industry, and could rival that of all the cars, buses, and trucks in California, the study projects.

Recent Department of Energy estimates found that data center energy use is expected to either double or triple by 2028. Last year alone, data centers produced at least 106 million metric tons of emissions—rivaling those of the domestic commercial airline industry, which produces around 131 million metric tons of CO2 annually, according to MIT Technology Review.

Take, for example, generating the electricity needed to train a large language model at the scale of Meta’s Llama-3.1, released in July this year. The air pollution produced would be equivalent to more than 10,000 round trips by car between Los Angeles and New York City, the report said.

While AI isn’t going anywhere, it’s important that the industry is held accountable for both environmental and public health impacts. The authors recommend that standards and methods be adopted that require tech companies to report the air pollution caused by their power consumption and backup generators, so that hidden costs can be counted for.