UN researchers urge shorter AI prompts to save energy
Researchers from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) are encouraging users to write shorter prompts when interacting with artificial intelligence, saying the practice could significantly reduce energy consumption, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
According to a recent UNU-INWEH report, removing unnecessary words such as "please" and "thank you" from AI prompts could save between 87 and 98 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually. Researchers said that amount is equivalent to the yearly residential electricity consumption of up to 760,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa.
The report highlights the growing environmental impact of artificial intelligence as its adoption accelerates worldwide. Researchers estimate that AI currently accounts for around 20% of energy used by data centers, a figure that could rise to 40% within the next few years.
“We are not saying be rude to your AI. But don’t fall into the interaction trap and don’t go falling in love with it either,” said Kaveh Madani of UNU-INWEH.
The study notes that concise prompts require fewer text units, or tokens, to be processed and generated, reducing the computational power needed for each interaction.
Researchers estimate that by 2030, AI alone could consume about 378 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, while total data center consumption could reach 945 terawatt-hours, nearly 3% of projected global electricity use.
The report also warns about growing water demands. Data centers are expected to require 9.3 trillion liters of water annually by 2030, enough to meet the minimum domestic water needs of all 1.3 billion people in sub-Saharan Africa.
The researchers called for greater transparency from AI companies regarding energy use and urged governments and consumers to adopt more sustainable practices.
“We are not saying AI is bad,” Madani said. “We are just saying let’s use it in a proper way.”
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that artificial intelligence is helping researchers decode how animals communicate, raising the possibility that humans could one day engage in limited interactions with other species.