Harvard Business Review February 28, 2025
Summary.
While AI has come under scrutiny for energy use, a less discussed but equally concerning trend is the growth in resource use and electronic waste from computing and data center infrastructure. Circular economy principles can help mitigate negative environmental and social impact from the AI boom. Companies need to think about how they can use equipment and materials longer, differently, again, and less.
One of the pitches for investing heavily in AI—especially resource-intensive versions such as large language models (LLMs)—is the argument that these powerful technologies have the potential to help solve sustainability and climate challenges. They can help optimize renewable energy systems, predict weather, and even discover new materials. At the heart of this argument, however,...
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