UN researchers predict that artificial intelligence will double the power and water consumption of data centers by 2030. They emphasize AI's significant physical infrastructure demands, including energy and water resources.

“The ‌public debate still often treats AI as software, but AI is also physical infrastructure: data centres, electricity generation, cooling systems, transmission networks, chips, minerals, land and water,” said Kaveh ‌Madani, the institute’s director and the report’s lead author.