As AI-powered tech becomes part of everyday life, consumer advocates warn it’s making things worse for the environment. The current artificial intelligence boom comes with a hidden price tag, with data centers having electricity needs that are adding to the financial strain on families across the country.

The Cost of AI

A United Nations University study revealed that reducing word use by 30% when using AI could lower its energy usage by 25%, saving the same amount of electricity used in a year by 700,000 people in Africa. The use of AI is a direct contributor to the growth of data centers, which are predicted to use more power than all but five countries in the world by 2030.

According to a survey conducted by Future, 67% of U.S. AI users are polite to it, and 54% of people who own smart speakers like Amazon Echo or Google Home say “please” when speaking to their device. However, being polite to AI has a cost, with data centers across the globe using 448 trillion watt-hours of electricity in 2025, more than all but 10 countries.

Residents can manage their own energy usage by being less polite and more concise when using AI. Areas with high concentrations of data centers, like Northern Virginia, have been hit especially hard, with residents seeing their electricity bills almost double over the last ten years.

Original reporting: WPBF West Palm Beach — read the source article.