Artificial intelligence is advancing at extraordinary speed, but what does that progress mean for energy consumption, water usage and the wider sustainability ambitions of organisations adopting AI?

In this episode of Microsoft Insurance Corner, Steve and Heather are joined by Microsoft’s Tom Price and Will Triccas to explore the sustainability challenge behind the rapid growth of AI.

Tom looks at the issue through the lens of customers and the insurance industry, exploring the growing tension between ambitious AI strategies and the environmental impact of the technology. The conversation considers whether organisations should be thinking more carefully about the models they use, and whether hyperscale cloud providers have a responsibility to help customers make more sustainable choices.

Will then takes us behind the technology itself, examining what happens as frontier AI models continue to grow in capability and scale. We explore Microsoft’s approach across three areas: modernising datacentres, improving the technology supply chain, and investing in the next generation of infrastructure and AI models.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The energy and water demands associated with large-scale AI
• Whether sustainability concerns are affecting organisations’ AI ambitions
• The implications of increasingly large and capable frontier models
• Whether businesses should think more carefully about which AI model they use
• The responsibility of hyperscale cloud providers in making AI more sustainable
• How Microsoft is modernising its datacentre infrastructure and supply chain
• Investment in future technologies and more efficient AI models
• Why sustainable AI is becoming an important consideration for technology leaders

For insurance leaders, the message is clear: adopting AI is not simply a question of what the technology can do. The industry also needs to consider how intelligently and responsibly that technology is consumed.

Microsoft Insurance Corner brings practical perspectives on the technologies reshaping the UK insurance sector, from AI and agents to data, cloud, security and modern engineering.