Host Sanjay Podder speaks with Cooper Elsworth, Google’s lead for AI and cloud emissions insights, about the real energy, carbon, and water footprint of AI systems. They discuss Google’s groundbreaking research on measuring AI’s environmental impact using empirical data rather than estimates, revealing a comprehensive methodology, with Cooper explaining how Google’s full stack approach, spanning hardware, software, data centers, and clean energy procurement, has cut Gemini’s carbon footprint by 44x in a year. The conversation also explores the balance between energy efficiency and water usage, the role of transparent metrics in driving climate action, and how AI can be scaled sustainably without undermining net-zero goals.

• Sanjay Podder: LinkedIn
• Cooper Elsworth: LinkedIn | Website

Find out more about the GSF:

• The Green Software Foundation Website
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Resources:

• Measuring the environmental impact of delivering AI at Google Scale [00:53]
• TPUs improved carbon-efficiency of AI workloads by 3x | Google Cloud Blog [01:45]
• Measuring the environmental impact of AI inference | Google Cloud Blog [01:52]
• Green AI Position Paper | GSF [24:48]
• Software Carbon Intensity (SCI) Specification | GSF [28:13]

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