The Damage of AI: E-Waste

Elliot Kim ’28

Daphne Wong ’26

Everyone knows AI has been adopted and integrated seamlessly into our daily lives. Still, most people are unaware of what happens behind the scenes of AI – the amount of atmospheric pollution and environmental damage done already (Ren & Wierman, 2024; Elytus, 2019). 

A key example of AI’s environmental impact is E-waste. E-waste is electrical and electronic equipment discarded due to its lack of reusability. Diotoxins, a chemical released into the environment due to E-waste, is another example of AI’s environmental impact. This damage occurs when E-waste such as batteries, processors, and GPUs are illegally disposed of, releasing metals and flame retardants that seep from the E-waste into the soil (US EPA, 2019). If the contaminated soil is not treated, animals can eat contaminated plants, resulting in long-term health problems and biodiversity concerns. E-waste affects the environment so heavily that even when disposed of properly, dioxins are still released into the atmosphere, increasing pollution and health risks within a thousand-mile radius (Elytus, 2019). The World Environment Forum predicts that 120 million tons of e-waste will be produced by 2050, leading to even more environmental issues. 

Now, you may wonder how AI contributes to E-waste, resulting in supply and demand. Recently, there has been a massive spike in demand for AI gadgets, leading to a fast turnover in electronic devices. 62 million tons of E-waste were generated in 2022, 82% more than in 2010 (Vina, 2024). This increase has occurred mainly due to the hardware that AI relies on, processors, and chips, requiring regular updates that render past versions useless (Elytus, 2019).

Allowing more E-waste and dioxins to be released would lead to worldwide consequences, some resulting from AI. This issue is a serious topic that needs to be discussed thoroughly and counteracted because if not, our atmosphere and environment will continuously decay at an increased rate. However, the advancement of e-cycling is a potential solution to counteract E-waste.

References

elytus. (2019). E-Waste & its negative effects on the environment | elytus. Elytus.com.

https://elytus.com/blog/e-waste-and-its-negative-effects-on-the-environment.html

Ren, S., & Wierman, A. (2024, July 15). The Uneven Distribution of AI’s Environmental Impacts. Harvard Business Review; Harvard

Business Publishing. https://hbr.org/2024/07/the-uneven-distribution-of-ais-environmental-impacts

US EPA. (2019, January 28). Learn about Dioxin | US EPA. US EPA. https://www.epa.gov/dioxin/learn-about-dioxin

Vina, A. (2024). Simplifying E-Waste Management with AI Innovations. Ultralytics.com.

https://www.ultralytics.com/blog/simplifying-e-waste-management-with-ai-innovations