Shows
Sentience11. Shaolei Ren, PhD on AI’s Hidden Environmental Costs and the Path to Sustainable ComputingIn this episode of Sentience, we speak with Shaolei Ren, PhD, about the hidden environmental footprint of artificial intelligence. From the enormous water and energy demands of data centers to the trade-offs between carbon emissions and cooling needs, Ren explains how his research uncovers these overlooked costs. We discuss geographical load balancing, fairness in resource allocation, brain-inspired computing, and how tech companies can improve transparency. This conversation explores how to build a greener, more equitable future for AI.Timestamps(00:00) – Introduction and Shaolei Ren’s journey into AI and environmentalism(02:10) – The physical realit...
2025-09-2537 min
The DSR NetworkSiliconsciousness: The AI and Energy Scenario Exercise: Part 2In four years time, how might a theoretical Dem administration grapple with the expanding energy consumption and demand for AI? This is the question the second half of TRG Media and MIT Technology Review’s AI and Energy Scenario Exercises seeks to explore. Leading experts come together to role play as key actors in government, private industry, and more to simulate how public policy might take shape in the coming years. This episode contains the second and final phase of the game and a brief wrap-up from the editor in chief of MIT Technology Review Mat Honan and game de...
2025-09-1946 min
DSR's SiliconsciousnessThe AI and Energy Scenario Exercise: Part 2In four years time, how might a theoretical 'blue' administration grapple with the expanding energy consumption and demand for AI? This is the question the second half of TRG Media and MIT Technology Review’s AI and Energy Scenario Exercises seeks to explore. Leading experts come together to role play as key actors in government, private industry, and more to simulate how public policy might take shape in the coming years. This episode contains the second and final phase of the game and a brief wrap-up from the editor in chief of MIT Technology Review Mat Honan and game de...
2025-09-1944 min
The DSR NetworkSiliconsciousness: The AI and Energy Scenario Exercise: Part 1How might this administration and future administrations approach the critical issue of AI and energy demands? This is the question the second of TRG Media and MIT Technology Review’s AI Scenario Exercises tries to answer. Leading experts come together to role play as key actors in government, private industry, and more to simulate how public policy might take shape in the coming years. This first episode contains the first phase of the game and an introduction from the editor in chief of MIT Technology Review Mat Honan, as well as an overview of the game by designer Ed Mc...
2025-09-1252 minDSR's SiliconsciousnessThe AI and Energy Scenario Exercise: Part 1How might this administration and future administrations approach the critical issue of AI and energy demands? This is the question the second of TRG Media and MIT Technology Review’s AI Scenario Exercises tries to answer. Leading experts come together to role play as key actors in government, private industry, and more to simulate how public policy might take shape in the coming years. This first episode contains the first phase of the game and an introduction from the editor in chief of MIT Technology Review Mat Honan, as well as an overview of the game by designer Ed Mc...
2025-09-1252 min
Black Men UnlearningPost-Human HumanityOn this episode of BMU, the guys discuss the issues with thebroad adoption of generative AI. The discussion questions technology’s ability to deliver us from oppression, the daily use of generative AI’s effect on our ability to think and learn, and the idea of ushering in an era of post-human humanity. The guys end the episode with a discussion of the Supreme Court’s ruling on gender affirming care for trans youth.References from today’s show: Matteo Wong’s “The Entire Internet is Reverting to Beta” https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/06/ai-janky-web/6...
2025-06-231h 18
kill switchis using AI worse than driving a car?Dexter doesn't have a car. But he uses AI… a lot. So, is his environmental impact worse than someone who drives a truck to work every day? This seemingly simple question led us to a bigger conversation about water, public health, and why we still don't know much about the true environmental cost of artificial intelligence. To help us understand all this, we talk to researchers Shaolei Ren and Alex de Vries, who’ve been studying the toll AI takes on the planet. Got something you’re curious about? Hit us up killswitch@kaleidosco...
2025-06-0431 min
Second NatureWe Need to Talk About AI🔗 TAKE ACTION: Stop State AI Regulation Ban in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" ActWhen you ask ChatGPT to write a cover letter, make your grocery list, or edit an image, what's actually happening in the real world? As AI gets bigger by the day, it's requiring more and more energy, water, and land in communities around the world. Tech companies are investing billions of dollars in data centers and technologies to power AI, but are they also investing in sustainable and equitable resources to keep it going?Today, we’re going to take a...
2025-05-2836 min
Dope LabsAI’s environmental cost - Lab 094We use AI every day from music recommendations to writing emails, but what’s the environmental price of all that convenience? This week in the lab, Titi and Zakiya are joined by Dr. Shaolei Ren, a researcher studying the water, energy, and public health costs of AI systems like ChatGPT. They break down the difference between AI and automation, explain what’s really happening when you submit a prompt, and explore how server farms are quietly shaping our climate future. Stay up to date with us on Instagram at @DopeLabsPodcast and at DopeLabsPodcast.com Joining Lemo...
2025-05-1127 min
Daily Paper CastReinforcement Learning for Reasoning in Large Language Models with One Training Example
🤗 Upvotes: 49 | cs.LG, cs.AI, cs.CL
Authors:
Yiping Wang, Qing Yang, Zhiyuan Zeng, Liliang Ren, Lucas Liu, Baolin Peng, Hao Cheng, Xuehai He, Kuan Wang, Jianfeng Gao, Weizhu Chen, Shuohang Wang, Simon Shaolei Du, Yelong Shen
Title:
Reinforcement Learning for Reasoning in Large Language Models with One Training Example
Arxiv:
http://arxiv.org/abs/2504.20571v1
Abstract:
We show that reinforcement learning with verifiable reward using one training example (1-shot RLVR) is effective in incentivizing the math reasoning capabilities of large language models (LLMs). Applying RLVR to the...
2025-05-0122 min
Do you really know?How much CO2 does a search on ChatGPT emit?AI is everywhere—from helping us write emails to planning our meals. But while it may feel invisible, it comes with a real environmental cost. According to a 2024 Ifop-Talan survey, 70% of young adults use AI every day—without realizing how much energy and water it consumes.A 2024 study by researcher Shaolei Ren found that generating a short 100-word email with AI uses the same amount of energy as keeping 14 LED bulbs on for an hour—and nearly a bottle of water. Multiply that across millions of users, and the environmental footprint becomes significant. A single...
2025-04-1104 min
Tangelic TalksSeason 1 Recap: Powerful Lessons on Energy, Equity & Empowerment | Tangelic TalksWhat an incredible start to Tangelic Talks! This season, we’ve tackled some of the most urgent and transformative topics in the world of clean energy, climate justice, and gender equality. From exploring the pivotal role of women in driving the clean energy revolution to diving deep into climate resilience strategies, Season 1 has been nothing short of enlightening.In this special recap episode, hosts Victoria Cornelio Diaz and Jensen Cummings take a moment to reflect on the powerful conversations, insightful guest contributions, and the key lessons learned that have shaped this groundbreaking season. Tune in as we look back on...
2025-04-0740 min
The Deep View: Conversations#13: The climate impact of AI - Shaolei RenI sat down with Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, to break down his recent research into the water consumption, electricity consumption and public health impact of the data centers being used to power generative AI. Episode Links: The water consumption of GenAI: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.03271The public health crisis of GenAI: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2412.06288Water consumption VS water use: https://www.wri.org/insights/whats-difference-between-water-use-and-water-consumptionPepsi Co’s water consumption: https://www.pepsico.com/our-impact/esg-topics-a-z/water#approachGoogle and Microsoft’s water consumption: https://www.th...
2025-03-1850 min
Clean IntegrationAI’s Environmental Impact with Professor Shaolei RenIn this episode of Clean Integration, Soluna CEO John Belizaire and CTO Dip Patel sit down with Professor Shaolei Ren from the University of California, Riverside, to discuss one of the most pressing challenges of AI today—its environmental footprint. Professor Ren’s research sits at the intersection of AI, sustainability, and environmental justice, exploring the hidden costs of AI’s water usage, energy consumption, and air pollution.With AI models growing exponentially in size, and data centers consuming unprecedented amounts of energy, this conversation dives into the tangible impact of AI on the environment, policy efforts to reg...
2025-03-0637 min
La Mentalité Verte - The Eco-Mindset(EN) Can AI Be Sustainable? How ChatGPT consumes Water & Energy | Dr. Shaolei RenIn this episode of The EcoMindset Podcast, host Alex Tyrrell explores the environmental impact of artificial intelligence, focusing on AI’s massive water and energy consumption. As AI adoption grows, so does its carbon footprint—but can technology also be part of the solution?Joining the conversation:🔹 Dr. Shaolei Ren, Associate Professor at the University of California, Riverside, and a leading researcher in sustainable computing, breaks down AI’s water and energy footprint, the role of data centers, and the hidden costs of AI technologies.Dr. Ren’s work has been featured in Harvard Business Review, the United Nati...
2025-02-2435 min
Campus Talks by Times Higher EducationCampus: Pros and cons of AI in higher educationHow should universities manage the rapid uptake of artificial intelligence across all aspects of higher education? We talk to three experts about AI’s impact on teaching, governance and the environment.
These interviews – with a researcher, a teaching expert and a pro vice-chancellor for AI – share practical advice, break down key considerations, and offer reasons for vigilance and optimism.
We talk to:
Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a cooperating faculty member in the computer science and engineering department at the University of California, Riverside, whose article “Making AI less ‘thir...
2025-02-201h 19
Maintenant, vous savezCombien de CO2 émet une recherche sur Chat GPT ?Shaolei Ren est chercheur à l’université de Riverside aux États-Unis, et ses travaux visent à calculer les ressources que consomment Chat GPT. Selon lui, une simple requête comme écrire un mail de 100 mots équivaut à laisser 14 ampoules led allumés pendant 1 heure et consomme une bouteille d’eau pleine. Il va plus loin en expliquant que si un américain sur 10 utilise Chat GPT une fois par semaine pour une requête similaire, en un an 435 millions de litres d’eau par an seront utilisés. Et la consommation d’électricité serait à peu près ce qu’il faut pour éclairer toute la...
2025-02-1004 min
The MachinistThe Environmental Inequity of AI Podcast: Building Local Power (LS 40 · TOP 1.5% what is this?)Episode: The Environmental Inequity of AIPub date: 2024-12-12Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationAI technology and large language models are growing in popularity. Also growing is the technology's detrimental effect on the environment. Each query into ChatGPT, to use one example, requires billions of calculations. Multiply that by millions of users, and suddenly, tech companies need to greatly expand their computing power in the form of new, energy-draining data centers. Each of those centers req...
2025-02-0728 minTangelic TalksWhat Impact Can AI Have on the Planet? Finding Fair Solutions w/ Dr. Shaloei Ren | EP4
🌍 Can AI be a tool for climate solutions, or is it making the problem worse? In this episode of Tangelic Talks, co-hosts Victoria Cornelio and Jensen Cummings sit down with Dr. Shaolei Ren, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Riverside, to explore AI’s growing environmental footprint and its potential for sustainable solutions.
🎙️ Episode Highlights:
⚡ AI’s massive energy consumption & carbon footprint—how big is the problem?
🤖 Specialized AI models vs. general AI—what’s their true impact on climate change?
🔋 How AI can optimize renewable energy, battery management & carbon tracking.
🚀 The future of AI efficiency—when will AI become truly susta...
2025-02-0328 min
Building Local Power“The Bad Target”: The Rise of Consumer RedliningAI technology and large language models are growing in popularity. Also growing is the technology's detrimental effect on the environment. Each query into ChatGPT, to use one example, requires billions of calculations. Multiply that by millions of users, and suddenly, tech companies need to greatly expand their computing power in the form of new, energy-draining data centers. Each of those centers requires staggering amounts of fresh water to keep its servers cool. By some estimates, just 10 ChatGPT queries are equivalent to evaporating a 16oz bottle of water. For context, the popularity of these queries has resulted in one of the...
2025-01-0920 min
Policy for the PlanetMeasuring AI’s damage to climate and health (Episode 6)There has been much hype over AI and its potential benefits to work and society, but what about the vast computing power necessary to develop and train deep learning models? Shaolei Ren (University of California Riverside) joins to discuss the effects of the AI supply chain on the environment and public health, and what regulatory actions are being taken to mitigate its negative impacts. This podcast is produced by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Our theme is “When I Hop” by Baegel. Download the episode transcript [PDF] Show Links Lea...
2024-12-1734 minBuilding Local PowerThe Environmental Inequity of AIAI technology and large language models are growing in popularity. Also growing is the technology's detrimental effect on the environment. Each query into ChatGPT, to use one example, requires billions of calculations. Multiply that by millions of users, and suddenly, tech companies need to greatly expand their computing power in the form of new, energy-draining data centers. Each of those centers requires staggering amounts of fresh water to keep its servers cool. By some estimates, just 10 ChatGPT queries are equivalent to evaporating a 16oz bottle of water. For context, the popularity of these queries has resulted in one of the...
2024-12-1228 min
Future TenseAI snake oil — its limits, risks, and its thirst for resourcesChat GPT pioneer, Sam Altman, reckons democratic countries will need to re-write their social contracts once AI reaches its full potential, such is its power to shape the future. But to quote a famous political aphorism: "he would say that, wouldn't he?" Princeton computer scientist, Arvind Narayanan, joins us to talk about the hype, the reality and the true limits of Artificial Intelligence. His new book is called "AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What it Can't, and How to Tell the Difference". Also, AI's dirty secret – it's a huge consumer of both power and water. And th...
2024-09-1329 min
Choses à Savoir TECH VERTEL’IA fait exploser la consommation en eau ?Avec le boom de l'IA générative, la consommation d'eau des entreprises de la tech ne cesse de grimper. En 2022, Microsoft a augmenté sa consommation d'eau de 34 %, Google de 22 % et Meta de 3 %. Selon Shaolei Ren, professeur à l'université de Californie, réaliser entre 10 et 50 réponses à ChatGPT, alimenté par GPT-3.5, équivaudrait à « boire » une bouteille d'eau de 500 ml.Pour être clair, la demande croissante en IA risque d'entraîner une augmentation de l'extraction de l'eau de 4,2 à 6,6 milliards de mètres cubes d'ici 2027 d’après les estimations des chercheurs, ce qui équivaut à la moitié de la quantité consommée par la population du Ro...
2024-03-0502 min
Clean IntegrationAI's Water Usage with Professor Shoalei RenIn this episode, we’re taking a deep dive into the use of water in AI computing in traditional data center models, and some of the looming questions concerning AI’s sustainability. Our guest is Shaolei Ren, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside.Professor Ren’s research broadly focuses on AI + Sustainability and pushes forward the boundaries of the field by uncovering and addressing water sustainability and environmental equity in networked AI/computing systems.LEARN more about Soluna by visiting our website.WATCH our latest...
2024-01-2346 min
AI Unraveled: Latest AI News & Trends, ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Gen AI, LLMs, Agents, Ethics, BiasMicrosoft and Google's staggering water consumption rates for AI; Microsoft, MIT, and Google transformed entire Project Gutenberg Collection into audiobooks; Google's responsible AI leap; Apple unveils iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro MaxIn today's episode, we'll cover Microsoft and Google's increased water consumption rates, Google's Digital Futures Project and $20 million fund for responsible AI development, companies hiring for Generative AI talent, the potential of AI-driven software development, Meta's plans to develop a powerful AI model, Microsoft, MIT, and Google's transformation of Project Gutenberg Collection into AI-powered audiobooks, concerns about AI girlfriend and erotic chatbot ads on social media, the unveiling of Apple's iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and the launch of Google's Digital Futures Project and $20 million fund.Video: https://youtu.be/0o4ErHfvbjgAI technology has...
2023-09-1320 min