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Watch · Science explainers from PBS

The Real Cost of AI Will Shock You

The Brief

  • Describes the debate over AI's environmental impact, with one side calling it minimal and the other calling it a catastrophe.
  • Says the video looks for the real answers on AI's environmental cost and claims the answers are stranger than expected.
  • Asks who is paying for AI's costs and how much, per the description.
  • Chapters cover AI electricity use, Koomey's law and computing efficiency, the Jevons Paradox, how data centers get power, carbon emission measurement, water use, local impacts of data centers, tax breaks and jobs, and alternative ways to build them.

Why watch · It offers a sourced, chapter-by-chapter look at the energy, carbon, water and local costs of AI data centers, which are central to current policy debates.

  • AI
  • data centers
  • energy use
  • water use

Summarised by Claude from the video’s title and description – no transcript was available, so check the video for the details.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Intro - Do you love or hate AI?
  2. 2:20The scale of the problem
  3. 3:35The long history of being worried about computers and energy use
  4. 4:57Koomey's law and the efficiency of computing
  5. 6:38How much electricity does AI really use?
  6. 9:12Future of AI and the Jevons Paradox
  7. 11:06How data actually centers get electricity
  8. 13:00Build your own power plant?
  9. 18:05The 3 ways we measure carbon emissions
  10. 22:33Heat and the bottle-of-water myth
  11. 25:22How much water is too much water?
  12. 29:55The promise that AI will fix everything
  13. 31:39Living next to a data center
  14. 34:00Tax breaks, jobs, and other impacts
  15. 37:52Does it have to be built this way?
  16. 41:12Take our annual survey!
Show the full video description ›

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-centers-impacts/home 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/next-texas-gold-rush-data-centers-and-their-impacts 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: https://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart/ https://www.instagram.com/drjoehanson/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/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,