Former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey Warns of Energy and Water Crisis Due to AI

Kathmandu. CPN (UML) leader and former Finance Minister Surendra Pandey has warned that the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could lead to an extreme energy and water crisis globally. Speaking at a program organized in the capital, he stated that policy and regulation preparations should be initiated against this. Pandey mentioned that in the current era of AI, its negative environmental impacts cannot be ignored. According to him, operating large AI data centers requires excessive energy and water, which could exacerbate serious problems like environmental crisis, climate change, and deforestation in the coming days. He noted that the use of AI is essential for the modernization of Nepali farmers and the agricultural sector, highlighting the challenge of finding a balanced management between the need for technology and the environmental damage it causes. He argued that ensuring farmers receive the necessary data and technological benefits securely is the main requirement today. While expressing his views, former Finance Minister Pandey said, 'We are currently in the age of Artificial Intelligence, and its use is rapidly increasing day by day. This directly means that energy and water consumption will appear as a serious problem in the coming days. Due to large AI data centers, serious problems like environmental crisis, climate change, and deforestation can become even more severe. But there is another side to this. The use of AI is equally beneficial and necessary for our farmers. Now the challenge is that on one hand, there is an extreme need for it, and on the other hand, there is the environmental damage and energy crisis it causes. How to manage both sides in a balanced way? How to provide farmers with the necessary data and technological benefits? This is the main requirement today.' Vice-President Pandey, presenting the theory of sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein, alerted everyone about the new form of knowledge politics and economic exploitation that began with the development of digital technology. He emphasized the need to work rapidly in the policy sector to overcome this type of inequality and protect internal interests.