We've all heard the warnings: Artificial intelligence is going to take all of our jobs. It's going to take over the world. Its growth can't be stopped.
There's just one problem with that. As it turns out, most companies using AI aren't making any money.
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology report found that 95% of companies that tried to implement AI haven't made any money from it, CNN reported.
"There has been this general promise of, hey, you'll just plug in the (AI) model … and everything will work," Scale AI CEO Jason Droege told CNN. "The reality is a little bit different."
MIT's report even suggested that AI could be a bubble that is about to burst, even as the data centers that power AI continue to pop up everywhere. Droege has a theory for why that is.
"I think one of the misunderstandings is that AI is this magic wand or that it can solve all problems, and that's not true today," he told CNN.
Find the best HVAC solution to heat and cool your home more efficiently Mitsubishi Electric’s efficient heating and cooling HVAC solutions can help you stay comfortable no matter the weather or region. You can even regulate temperatures in each room with individually controlled all-electric heat pump systems. With an energy-efficient, all-climate system from Mitsubishi, you can reduce the amount of energy needed to heat and cool your home, receive up to $2,000 in tax credits, and get peace of mind knowing you’re choosing rigorously tested, high-quality products. |
The best applications for AI, Droege said, are in situations where humans are slow or error-prone, such as organizing or summarizing thousands of pages' worth of documents.
Even if companies aren't making money with AI, there are no signs of its use slowing down. In fact, a United Nations study projects that the global AI market will increase from $189 billion in 2023 to $4.8 trillion in 2033 — a 25-times increase.
With that growth comes significant environmental complications.
When used properly, AI can be a game-changer for environmental research and applications. It's already shown the ability to outperform traditional weather forecasting, which could give people more time to prepare for extreme weather.
TCD Picks » Upway Spotlight
💡Upway makes it easy to find discounts of up to 60% on premium e-bike brands
|
How should we protect workers from losing jobs to AI-powered robots?
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. |
Financial assistance for job training 💰 It has also shown promise in the renewable-energy sector. A team of scientists used AI to quickly generate some of the measurements necessary for fusion reactors, which could be a key to unlocking nearly unlimited clean energy.
The irony is, while AI is being used to help solve some of the world's energy problems, the technology itself uses massive amounts of energy. Some experts forecast that AI data centers could be responsible for 8% of the world's energy usage by 2030.
They also use a staggering amount of water to help keep servers from overheating. In Iowa alone, Microsoft's data centers used more than 11 million gallons of water in one year.
Researchers have unveiled new systems that can reduce that usage, but those have not yet become mainstream. And experts say that without significant changes to the industry, the "city-sized" data centers built by large tech companies will use so much energy that they will drive up everyone's utility bills.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
