Salesforce: AI’s Role For a Sustainable Future

Salesforce has taken an analytical approach to AI’s sustainability with its latest report, exploring AI’s role and associated energy concerns in ecological contexts.

Sunya Norman, SVP Impact, Salesforce, says on LinkedIn: “As a leader in agentic AI, it is Salesforce's imperative to ensure that AI is trusted, reliable and sustainable.

“In this outlook, we explore the current landscape, our efforts and evolving insights so far and our preliminary path forward. We’re early in the journey, but the future is being shaped now.

“By sharing our progress openly, we aim to spark transparency and inspire collective action. A sustainable future with AI is within reach – and I’m optimistic about what we can achieve together.”

Environmental considerations with AI

The Salesforce report highlights that AI’s power demand by 2030 could occupy 3% of global electricity use due to increased cooling necessities of data centres.

Gartner forewarns potential power constraints by 2027, which could impede AI’s development and escalate cost and dependability issues.

With 56% of the energy for data centres currently derived from fossil fuels, there’s an imperative to transition to greener power sources, according to the International Energy Agency.

Salesforce says failure to do so could make data centres the fastest-rising source of global emissions.

However, AI’s deployment isn’t energy-free; the necessary water for cooling systems often stems from regions with moderate to high water stress.

Furthermore, the construction of AI computational power relies on resource-intensive mining for minerals like lithium and copper, which can intensify pollution and environmental damage.

How sustainability can enhance AI applications

Despite the environmental footprint, AI possesses the capacity to drive sustainability forward.

The IEA suggests AI solutions could cut energy-related emissions by 5% by 2035. Salesforce posits AI’s potential in complex systems optimisation, accelerating discovery, instigating behavioural shifts and refining climate policy modelling.

Adiitonally, predictive maintenance, renewable integration and tailored energy insights are ways through which AI can bolster energy efficiency.

On a parallel front, AI’s smart irrigation and wastewater management capabilities improve water resource administration proactively.

Salesforce’s AI innovation Agentforce strategically innovates in sustainable sectors.

Good360 harnesses AI to prioritise aid distribution during catastrophes, circumventing waste.

“Globally, a significant amount of goods that could be matched to disaster survivors end up going to the landfill. Good360 is here to change that,” says Salesforce’s Chief Technology Officer, Stephane Moulec.

Furthermore, the company Rare unveils an AI-based regenerative agriculture coach to offer real-time, customised advice, aiding farmers through enhanced local weather and agronomic data, with some seeing a 40% reduction in resource allocation.

Simultaneously, Groundswell leverages AI for community solar expansion, targeting a reduction in energy expenses for 30,000 households, cutting their energy burdens considerably.

Salesforce’s methodology for sustainable AI

Salesforce outlines three fundamental strategies to use AI for sustainability goals:

• Smart demand
• Efficiency
• Clean supply

Smart demand

Salesforce highlights smart demand as evaluating AI applications on a project-by-project basis ensures apt AI utilisation – curbing inefficiency and fostering optimal power strategies.

The company also promotes transparency and flexibility in power consumption for data centres with incentivisation for efficient AI usage.

Efficiency

Salesforce also stresses that continued investment in compact, purpose-built AI models is key.

Through techniques like quantisation, distillation, and pruning, organizations can maintain precision while lowering computation needs, thus conserving energy.

Utilising smaller models for devices relieves data centres, thereby enhancing operational efficiency.

Clean supply

Finally, Salesforce says, AI’s procurement processes should prioritise sustainability – showing the need for enterprises to source from eco-friendly suppliers and invest in green infrastructures – advocating for environmentally conscious AI policies will also drive systemic change.