The relationship between a business, its clientele, and customer support determines how successful the collaboration is. For instance, 89% of today’s customers are more likely to repurchase from a brand with a good reputation, providing faultless services across all areas and contributing to the collaborative efforts of preserving the Earth. On the other hand, not implementing and fulfilling environmentally-conscious goals can lead to customers fleeing to other companies that ensure this success. 72% of interviewees at a questionnaire from Melbourne’s Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration responded that they’re opting for more environmentally-friendly products now than five years ago. In contrast, a McKinsey & Co. study discloses that 75% of millennial participants think of sustainability before paying for a good.
If the rising number of businesses using eco-conscious marketing methods such as printing on seeded paper or using AI-based solutions like ChatGPT’s API has once struck you as intriguing, now you know why practices like these become more mainstream. Despite all the tech and energy consumption associated with using artificial intelligence, the trade can be worth it when businesses know how to master their operations.
So, is it true that jumping on AI can have colossal consequences on our planet, or do the companies already implementing such schemes know something the rest of the businesses don’t? Clearly, if you look from this perspective, they’re one step closer to crawling under the customers’ skin and gaining their loyalty.
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The introduction of AI-based solutions calls for apps and infrastructure development
AI doesn’t stop anywhere soon, and the release of ChatGPT 2.0 and the continuous developments made to it stand as proof of the ever-growing seizure of. The AI market is to hit a trillion by the end of this year, according to Statista, and other research shows that it can actually save approximately 2.5 hours of work a day per employee. However, it’s clear that colossal investments in the development of apps and software and the whole underlying infrastructure are vital. On the one hand, a business will reduce the number of workers needed in its artillery, as tasks can be distributed more efficiently. This reduces the energy consumed, diminishes gas otherwise used to reach the office, and contributes to lower amounts of trash, to name a few benefits.
All these advantages are possible when businesses know how to manage their AI tools and energy dissipated.
Unresponsible AI usage might result in more damage than advantages
Consequently, when not used sustainably and responsibly, AI can actually have the opposite, detrimental effect and partake in global warming. AI platforms use plenty of energy that can equate to the usage of an entire nation. For instance, if each Google search would need AI, the amount of energy exhausted yearly would equal that of Ireland.
AI models creative content like videos, images, and texts, use a lot of energy that’s sometimes derived from polluting and non-renewable resources, such as oil, natural gas, and coal. Extracting the main idea, AI isn’t exactly the most environmentally friendly option, especially since it’s in its development stages and much research and experiments need to be done to correct its usage. This truth applies to situations involving electric cars, which are generally recognized as better environmental choices than gas working on gas. However, despite not draining coal resources, this technology is dependable on the electrical grid, the development of charging stations, as well as at-home consumption of power. Thus, they’re contributing to high amounts of energy exhaustion, all the more if you add every resource involved in the deployment of car charging establishments.
AI can develop eco-friendlier solutions if tackled properly
Justifiably, businesses should weigh their options mindfully and ensure that the following three approaches are more or less achieved:
- Encourage more supplier transparency. The transparency of AI service providers and cloud vendors is a critical problem, so calling out on these practices as a company significantly contributes to collective efforts to switch to more environmental practices. Businesses asking for transparency from their providers and opting for greener techniques, when possible, transmit a powerful message out there to suppliers that need to work on the accuracy of their data.
- Whenever achievable, companies are encouraged to use renewable energy to fuel their AI computation, like wind and solar power. Those looking to level up their CO2 emission-saving game can resort to easier-to-implement solutions like plantable seed paper, which is entirely sustainable and consumes paper waste combined with seeds. Numerous methods ensure businesses keep using energy but reduce the environmental cost when using local or traditional sources that rely on depletable resources, cutting down on their greenhouse gas emissions.
- Employing energy-efficient IT hardware like laptops with excellent Energy Star ratings can significantly reduce the power consumption of AI-based computation, ultimately decreasing the CO2 footprint of the business in question. Furthermore, this practice benefits firms looking to cut expenses and improve their BTL.
Relying on AI-based solutions for less strain on customer support diminishes gas and energy consumption
Despite the human nature of more than half of jobs relying on this type of labor, businesses are no longer encouraged to rely only on their human staff. Instead, they can leverage the numerous chatbots and robots that artificial intelligence has spurred, such as Bard and ChatGPT solutions. Opting for the latter, for instance, can be an easy-peasy way to take advantage of the revolutionizing technology, as the foremost needed step includes introducing an API into the business system to have the chatbot respond to FAQs, create personalized responses and offer assistance in a human-like manner. The exception here is that this solution is only more suitable than a human for themes and questions encountered regularly.
As one can see, leaving some work on AI-based equipment will save plenty of time and resources that would otherwise be spent so that humans can deliver equivalent results. The energy consumed by the chatbot to answer a question in the blink of an eye has far less environmental consequence than the electricity it takes a human to do the same thing in a matter of minutes.
The AI market is growing by leaps and bounds and businesses need to learn to use such solutions responsibly to ensure their sustainable goals are met.
