---
title: "Training Advanced AIs is Surprisingly Terrible for the Environment"
description: "Researchers at found that training large artificial intelligence models clobbers the environment with a suprisingly large carbon footprint."
date: "2019-06-06"
modified: "2019-06-06"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/training-ais-terrible-environment"
categories:
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "ai"
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "carbon emissions"
  - "the digest"
---

# Training Advanced AIs is Surprisingly Terrible for the Environment

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/training-ais-terrible-environment.png>)
*Researchers at found that training large artificial intelligence models clobbers the environment with a suprisingly large carbon footprint. \<em\>Image: IBM/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Environment

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, [found that](<https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v3TxkqPuzvRfiV_RVyRTTFbHl1pZq7Ab/view>) training large artificial intelligence models produces an astonishing amount of carbon emissions — an unexpected cost to the environment.

The process puts out the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide as five lifetime emissions of the average American car, as [calculated by *MIT Technology Review*](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613630/training-a-single-ai-model-can-emit-as-much-carbon-as-five-cars-in-their-lifetimes/>). That's more than 626,000 pounds of carbon dioxide — as much as flying from New York to London and back every week for nearly three years.

## Carbon Footprint

Needless to say, that's a substantial toll on the environment. The researchers found that as the AI models grew in size, computational costs increased as well, along with their environmental impact. And the actual impact could be even worse.

"Training a single model is the minimum amount of work you can do," lead author Emma Strubell and PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, told *MIT Tech*. A new model would likely require further rounds of what's often trial and error training.

"What probably many of us did not comprehend is the scale of it until we saw these comparisons," Siva Reddy, a postdoc at Stanford University, told *MIT Tech*.

**READ MORE:** [Training a single AI model can emit as much carbon as five cars in their lifetimes](<https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613630/training-a-single-ai-model-can-emit-as-much-carbon-as-five-cars-in-their-lifetimes/>) \[*MIT Technology Review*\]

**More on AI:** *[Alan Turing Finally Got His New York Times Obituary](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/alan-turing-new-york-times-obituary>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)