Get the latest tech news

Generative AI could cause 10 billion iPhones’ worth of e-waste per year by 2030


The immense and quickly advancing computing requirements of AI models could lead to the industry discarding the e-waste equivalent of over 10 billion

The immense and quickly advancing computing requirements of AI models could lead to the industry discarding the e-waste equivalent of over 10 billion iPhones per year by 2030, researchers project. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers from Cambridge University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences take a shot at predicting just how much e-waste this growing industry could produce. Image Credits: Wang et alNow admittedly, using 2023 as a starting metric is maybe a little misleading: Because so much of the computing infrastructure was deployed over the last two years, the 2.6 kiloton figure doesn’t include them as waste.

Get the Android app

Or read this on TechCrunch

Read more on:

Photo of iPhones

iPhones

Photo of Year

Year

Photo of Waste

Waste

Related news:

News photo

Generative AI is disrupting creative communities, here's how they are fighting back

News photo

Gold extraction from e-waste gets 10 times more efficient with new sponge material | Researchers developed a nanoscale cross-dimensional composite material via self-assembly of two-dimensional graphene oxide and one-dimensional chitosan macromolecules.

News photo

A tiny iPad-like smart display could ship next year, says report