JM Review｜E-waste Problem Could be Exacerbated by Development of Generative AI

By Jointing.Media, in Shanghai, 2024-11-08

New products will continue to emerge to stimulate users to continue to consume, and competition between companies will continue to promote the continuous development of science and technology. Users seek AI products with faster response and more accurate output, which depends on its computing power, which is bound to be supported by chips and servers with better performance.

The progress and development of science and technology will promote environmental protection and inevitably bring about various new environmental problems. Enterprises to accelerate the disposal of new products is not without solutions, the continued rapid development of the second-hand market and renewable resources industry is benefiting from this. For example, the popularity of mobile phones has given rise to a second-hand mobile phone market, and it has also become a good business to dismantle and recycle mobile phones.

According to industry data, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the total number of idle mobile phones in China will reach 6 billion, and the hidden value of second-hand mobile phones is more than 600 billion yuan. At present, there are three ways to recycle used mobile phones: in good condition, they are sold in the second-hand market after maintenance and renovation; if the degree of damage is severe, the whole machine is disassembled, and the disassembled chips, electronic components, etc. can be used for maintenance and reuse; after some old mobile phones are disassembled, the parts and components cannot be fully used, and the materials are recycled after disassembly and crushing, and the recycled materials and rare metals are refined.

If the used AI server market can reach a certain scale, there must be business models and innovative technologies driven by profit to solve this “e-waste”. However, recycling will also create pollution problems, how to develop the new economy while taking into account environmental protection, public managers have been facing the issue.

Edited by Wind, Youdao and DeepL

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