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Artificial intelligence (AI) has had a transformative effect on health care. The technology has been tested and applied in almost every area, from disease diagnostics to AI-powered digital clinics.

The rationale always comes back to efficiency: AI technology will achieve more with less. In theory, greater efficiency contributes to sustainability.

But what about the environmental cost? Will health care be picking up the bill later down the line?

These are the questions being asked in a new paper, "Green Artificial Intelligence in Health Applications." The research is published in the journal Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.

Environmental costs should be integrated into AI development, argues the paper's co-author, Alok Mishra, a professor in data management and software engineering at NTNU.

"AI is coming up all around the world. It can't be stopped," admits Mishra. "AI models require lots of energy and huge data centers. These data centers consume large amounts of electricity and use significant quantities of fresh water."

Mishra has previously proposed the need for "Green AI"—a holistic look at the technology's impact on the environment.

His latest research examines the use of AI in health applications. It argues that the technology is "not working sustainably" and that environmental consequences should be on equal footing with privacy, bias, fairness, transparency and other concerns about emerging AI technology.

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