I REMEMBER my aunt telling me how, back in the old days of landline phones, she could recall a bunch of phone numbers without even having to keep them in a notebook. But now, in the days of smartphones — heck, even back in the days of Nokia 3310 (a phone so sturdy, it’s dubbed “telefon baling anjing”) — we no longer have to burden our brain with remembering other people’s phone numbers, or even our own, because the duty has been relegated to our gadget. 

We live in the age of convenience. We’re not even talking about piped water supplies or flush toilet or electric light that are available at the flick of a switch — no, those we already consider as baseline necessities, taken for granted as basic human rights and noted only in their absence (think about how we grumble when there’s water disruption). 

Instead, we talk about the convenience of having another person drive us around in their car, we only need to summon them by our smartphone; and ordering food online because we’re too tired or lazy to cook, so busy that we couldn’t even be asked to leave our home to get food already cooked by someone else; and buying items online at prices so unimaginably cheap, the shipping costs more than the items themselves. As long as we have the money to pay, someone out there is willing to provide for us the service. 

Sometimes, we don’t even have to pay anything — in cash. Consider one more thing we have taken for granted: A free email account. As long as we have Internet connection, anybody and their cat can create an email account. Or the tech of the moment, generative artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT. Sure, there’s the premium Plus version, which charges you a monthly fee of US$20, or the Pro version, which charges you US$200 (RM875). But the free version suffices for most of us plebians. 

But are these free items actually free? 

Consider the matter of free email, for example. Google LLC may not take your money when you open a Gmail account, but instead it takes your data and sells it to third parties. Or uses that data to generate targeted ads for its ad networks. The only reason Google is able to provide services like Gmail, YouTube and Google Drive for free, despite these services costing the tech giant millions of dollars to run, is its ad network which is valued at as high as US$100 billion.

Lately, however, Google hasn’t been able to profit as much due to more people using ad blockers and certain web browsers, like Brave, blocking ads and cookies, causing Google and other companies of similar ilk to have less data to sell. This, in turn, has led Google to delete old accounts as one of its cost-saving measures. Turns out what we think is free is not so free, after all.

Then, how about AI? Everyone, everywhere is lauding AI as the next best thing since sliced bread. Upskilling and reskilling keep being bandied about, and you keep getting warned that if you don’t implement AI in your work, you will get left behind. The government has also been encouraging (overly encouraging, one must say) all these foreign tech companies to come set up their data centres in this country, in the name of growth and foreign direct investment. 

My stance on AI veers on scepticism and cynicism, but I’m also a utilitarian, who can see when something is useful and makes life easier. Thus, after testing out ChatGPT when it first came out, I decided that it was definitely a beneficial tool and have been constantly using it at work and outside. I even became a tad too dependent on it, to the extent that I became unsure about my own capability and had to check with ChatGPT each and every time (“Doesn’t this grammar sound off? I’m sure it’s wrong. To be safe, let’s ask ChatGPT.”). 

But AI comes with a heavy environmental cost. I have always been aware of this but it was more in a vague sense of things. Harmful? How harmful? According to United Nations Environment Programme, the microchips powering AI need rare earth elements which are usually mined in destructive ways. Data centres produce electronic waste which often contains toxic substances like mercury and lead. 

Yet, what hit me in the gut was the high energy consumed by these data centres, which are needed to power AI and also social media services. According to the National Water Services Commission chair Charles Santiago: “Researchers at the University of California estimate that for every 20 to 50 questions ChatGPT answers, it uses — or perhaps ‘consumes’ — approximately 500ml of fresh water.” 500ml. That’s equal to a regular-sized mineral water bottle. Imagine how many people are asking how many questions, every day. 

I’m not here to be a Luddite, telling you to smash your computer into two and throw away your smartphones. I too still use ChatGPT, though I try to be more careful about my use — and to depend more on the good ole brain to come up with certain answers instead of resorting to the easy way out. With or without me, AI usage will remain prevalent. There is no stopping technological advancement. 

But perhaps, in our use, we can be more mindful. This is, unfortunately, no longer about whether or not we can recall our own phone number without having to check our smartphone for it. That “problem” at least concerns only ourselves. But the environment is too hefty a price for us to pay, for our sake and for our children’s sake. Nothing is free in this world and if you’re not paying in cash, you’re definitely paying in other ways. 

• Norain MT is the assistant chief sub-editor of The Malaysian Reserve. 

• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition