Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence

As we embark on this journey into the world of artificial intelligence, it’s vital to ground ourselves in the physical realities underpinning these seemingly ethereal technologies. AI is not just lines of code or abstract algorithms; it is a force deeply embedded in the earth itself. Imagine the vast lithium brine pools shimmering under the Nevada sun, where a soft, silvery metal is painstakingly extracted to power the batteries that keep our devices alive. These pools, though distant and out of view for most, are the beating heart of AI’s material existence. Each Tesla Model S, for example, requires about 138 pounds of lithium, a staggering amount when multiplied by millions of vehicles and devices worldwide.

Yet, this extraction is not without cost. The environmental scars left behind—cracked earth, poisoned waterways, and depleted ecosystems—are a silent testimony to the price paid for our digital conveniences. In Inner Mongolia, a sprawling toxic black lake, the size of several city blocks, holds the waste from rare earth mineral processing. This lake, filled with acidic and radioactive residue, is a stark reminder that the materials fueling AI come with a legacy of pollution and harm, largely invisible to the end users.

These materials are part of a global supply chain that stretches across continents, binding the deserts of Nevada, the industrial landscapes of China, and the forests of Southeast Asia into a planetary network of extraction and consumption. AI’s lifeblood is thus intertwined with geopolitical conflicts, environmental degradation, and social injustices. Moreover, the energy demands of AI are immense. Data centers, the warehouses of our digital age, consume electricity comparable to the aviation industry, relying heavily on fossil fuels and vast quantities of water for cooling. This energy consumption continues to grow exponentially as AI models become larger and more complex.

Understanding these hidden costs reshapes how we perceive AI—not as a purely digital marvel but as a material and ecological phenomenon. It invites us to question the sustainability of our technological ambitions and to consider the broader impacts of our digital lives on the planet.

As we close this chapter on the earth beneath AI, we prepare to delve into the human labor that animates these systems, revealing the hidden workforce behind the machines.