Summary: This overview from the United Nations Regional Information Centre examines the energy footprint of artificial intelligence, noting that AI systems — especially large generative models — are becoming significant consumers of electricity as usage spreads worldwide. It explains that energy consumption arises not only from the computation required to train and run AI models, but also from cooling and data-centre operations more broadly. The piece highlights the environmental and resource impacts associated with rising energy demand and underscores the importance of transparency and sustainable practices.

Source: https://unric.org/en/artificial-intelligence-how-much-energy-does-ai-use/