Rethinking AI at Scale: Sustainability, Cost, and the Case for Local Alternatives

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• Title: Rethinking AI at Scale: Sustainability, Cost, and the Case for Local Alternatives
• Date: 5 November 2026
• Time: 10:00 – 11:00AM (Malaysia Time – GMT+8)
• Mode: Online 
• Registration Link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/7gsT0ELPar 

Malaysia aims to lead the region in AI and is fast becoming a hub for data centres. The United States, home to more data centres than any other country, shows what AI at that scale demands in water, power and capital.

Amit Basu, Founder and CEO of the data and AI consultancy Cognativ, will argue that smaller models running on local hardware could handle a large share of everyday AI work while substantially reducing resource use. Drawing on recent data from the United Nations University, the International Energy Agency and UNESCO, he will examine the water, materials and power that data centres demand, and how those costs fall on local aquifers, electricity grids and the communities around them. He will also look at why several US states have paused new data centre approvals, and why the financing behind the build-out is showing strain as spending outpaces revenue. As an engineer who builds data and AI systems for clients, he makes the case for restraint in how AI is scaled, with the aim of keeping advanced capability affordable, private and within planetary limits.

Participants will leave with a clearer picture of the environmental and financial costs behind large-scale AI, the signs of strain emerging where the build-out is most advanced, and the conditions under which smaller, local models offer a practical alternative.

The session will be beneficial to business leaders weighing AI investment and adoption decisions, and to policymakers and regulators responsible for energy, water and data centre approvals. It will also interest researchers and sustainability practitioners working on the resource demands of digital infrastructure.

About the Speaker

Amit Basu is Founder and CEO of Cognativ, a data and AI consultancy with teams across the USA, Europe, India and Latin America. An engineer by training, he has held C-level roles at six technology companies and led product, software and data platforms processing over 100 million transactions a day. His current work focuses on the sustainability and economics of artificial intelligence, including the environmental cost of hyperscale systems and the case for smaller, local approaches. He spoke on this topic to the Planetary Health Alliance in August 2026 and served on a panel on ProSocial AI at the Science Summit at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2026.

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About Sunway IGSC

The Sunway Institute for Global Strategy and Competitiveness conducts fundamental and translational research on how governments, industries and communities compete and develop, redefining competitiveness to treat social and environmental conditions as explicit factors rather than externalities.

Its work centers around Return-on-Values (ROV), which is value created across four pillars: economic, social, environmental, and the political empowerment of communities. The Institute develops frameworks intended for use by policymakers, businesses and practitioners, with the aim of making regenerative competitiveness practical.

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