University libraries

Every month, the Joseph-Fourier University Library hosts a workshop to promote scientific culture: “La science infuse.”
To mark Eco-Responsible Digital Month, we invite you to explore the environmental impacts of AI during a lecture by Sylvain Bouveret, Professor at Ensimag, Grenoble-INP, and the Grenoble Computer Science Laboratory 

AI has experienced unprecedented growth since the advent of deep learning techniques in the 2010s, and particularly over the past five years with the development of generative AI. This development was only made possible by the combination of two factors: on the one hand, the development of considerable computing resources, and on the other, the availability of massive datasets, without which it would be impossible to train current AI models. Consequently, the operation of these AI systems relies on a significant digital hardware infrastructure—which is generally invisible to users—and whose manufacturing and use, among other factors, have a considerable environmental impact.
In this presentation, we will provide some insights to help understand this impact. We will show how this impact manifests itself both globally (in the case of greenhouse gas emissions, for example) and very locally, in terms of conflicts over the use of water resources, for instance. Finally, we will highlight some trends and discuss whether AI can be developed in a way that is compatible with planetary boundaries.

Watch the video