The Real Cost of AI Will Shock You

Take the PBS Digital Studios Annual Survey: https://to.pbs.org/2026SurveyBeSmart ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ If you ask what is the environmental impact of AI, you’ll get two answers. One says it’s minimal and worth it. The other says it’s an environmental catastrophe. So what's the truth? We went looking for the real answers, and found something much stranger than we expected. Whatever you think about AI, somebody is already paying for it. Who, and how much? That's what we are here to find out. Sources/References: https://sites.google.com/view/data-ce... 00:00 Intro - Do you love or hate AI? 02:20 The scale of the problem 03:35 The long history of being worried about computers and energy use 04:57 Koomey's law and the efficiency of computing 06:38 How much electricity does AI really use? 09:12 Future of AI and the Jevons Paradox 11:06 How data actually centers get electricity 13:00 Build your own power plant? 18:05 The 3 ways we measure carbon emissions 22:33 Heat and the bottle-of-water myth 25:22 How much water is too much water? 29:55 The promise that AI will fix everything 31:39 Living next to a data center 34:00 Tax breaks, jobs, and other impacts 37:52 Does it have to be built this way? 41:12 Take our annual survey! ____________________________________ Want to dive deeper? Our friends at The Texas Tribune published a project called “The Next Texas Gold Rush” with the support of the Pulitzer Center that looks closely at the data center boom here in Texas–its environmental impacts, the political influences and tensions behind it, and the local reactions to it. Check it out! https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/n... Be Smart explores science questions you didn’t even know you wondered about. It is hosted and produced by Joe Hanson, PhD. We post new videos all the time, so please subscribe! If you enjoyed this video, hit the ‘like’ button, leave a comment, or watch another of our videos! CONNECT WITH ME ____________________________________ Website: https://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/ Instagram:   / okaytobesmart     / drjoehanson   Facebook:   / itsokaytobesmart   Patreon:   / itsokaytobesmart   A big thanks to our Brain Trust patrons: Baerbel Winkler, Bernadette Etienne, Brent Lopez, dani bowman, David Johnston, Ed Eyden, Eric Meer, Jaap Westera, Karen Haskell, Marcus Pingel, Mike and Patty Loftis SPONSORSHIP INQUIRIES ____________________________________ Please email biz@itsokaytobesmart.com Stock video and images provided by Shutterstock, Artlist, and MotionArray Music provided by APM Written Joe Hanson Edited by Steven Simone Produced by Least Square Media and Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios