What does sustainable computing look like in the age of AI? That was the question approximately 70 scholars and tech industry representatives sought to answer at the Sustainable Compute and AI Infrastructure (SCAI) symposium, which was held Sept. 17 and 18 in the new Computer Science Laboratories at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS).

A collaboration between CICS and the Riccio College of Engineering, the symposium featured two days of talks, panel discussions, research highlights and poster presentations focused on AI systems, data-center infrastructure, power systems, environmental impacts and public priorities.

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In his keynote address, Prashant Shenoy, distinguished professor of computer science and director of the NSF Computer Decarbonization (CoDec) Expedition, discussed the challenges and opportunities in enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of cloud platforms in the face of rising AI demand. Shenoy stressed that it is important that computer scientists and engineers rethink typical approaches to the problem and shared some initial methods of making computing systems more grid-friendly, as well as ways to approach performance, efficiency and cost tradeoffs.

“Adaptation is key,” he said in his presentation. “You can use workload flexibility; you can use energy storage. But whatever it is, you have to rethink how you have been designing our systems and how they interface with the grid. There’s a lot of opportunity for us as academic researchers to contribute to this type of problem and conversation.”

The sessions that followed focused on three facets of AI infrastructure presented as “coupled layers”—AI and workloads, computing systems, and energy and infrastructure—and incorporated perspectives from academia and industry, while also touching on policy, community planning and public infrastructure.

Industry-academia collaboration was a common thread throughout the symposium, which was by design, according to Laura Haas, a professor in CICS who moderated a panel on the role of academia in the future of AI infrastructure. “Such symposia are really helpful for networking and forming new collaborations,” she noted, adding that industry representatives were especially keen to find potential partners on the academic side.

Golbon Zakeri, professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, moderated a panel addressing responsible data center growth. In addition to points raised about investing in renewables and protecting water resources, panelist Erin Baker, faculty director of the Energy Transition Institute and distinguished professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, introduced to the discussion the perspective of energy justice.

Baker highlighted how, in a world with many environmentally damaging industries, she found it implausible that the pollution alone would drive communities to the protests we are currently witnessing. Instead, communities are reacting to the concern that AI will worsen inequality by taking jobs. 

“In the U.S., we already have a lot of inequality and it’s growing, and I think people are very worried about inequality and AI,” she said, noting that data centers become an “avatar” for the threat of inequality that people are worried AI could bring—taking away jobs, using up resources and degrading local environments. Asked how data centers could be scaled sustainably, Baker emphasized the importance that AI should bring prosperity to the communities it enters by investing in education, healthcare and environmental benefits.

While the panelists, presenters and attendees all seemed to agree that greening AI data centers will be a daunting job, the symposium ended on a hopeful note.

“I have never been this excited about the research and the possibility of making an impact in the real world in such a short time,” symposium organizer Mohammad Hajiesmaili, associate professor in CICS and director of the UMass SOLAR (Sustainability, Optimization, Learning and Algorithms Research) Lab, said during his closing remarks. “We, as scientists, have a substantial responsibility to spread the word out there to first raise awareness with the public about both opportunities and risks—to people and planet—of this technology, and also about the scientific solutions to fundamental problems in this space that could be adapted by industry and tech companies when they are building such an infrastructure.”

For more from the SCAI symposium, visit the Riccio College of Engineering website.