Big tech is struggling with the unforeseen environmental consequences of the current boom in artificial intelligence. The excitement for all things AI has made clear that the tech industry never was going to easily miniaturise its carbon footprint as many had hoped earlier on. While the industry appeared more ‘decarbonised’ at first compared with manufacturing behemoths, the outcome was complicated by its purported leadership on climate issues. The proliferation of artificially intelligent computers is ramping up those tech giants’ use of energy. What drives large AI software development at companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon are high-power computer chips and data centres, both of which require more power to run. The power usage is resulting in some companies reviving coal plants or encouraging expansion of natural gas infrastructure. Sure, they point out, AI could make other industries more efficient in the long run. But AI’s hefty energy demand could end up being ‘indirect’ energy usage linked to its development in inexpensive manufacturing sites.
But despite AI’s promise as an ally in the fight against climate change, there is little evidence that AI technologies will deliver on these hopes. Computer-machining, and new factory designs that reduce energy demand. Plus, the operational optimisations that are already being conducted by machine learning technologies. For instance, a Nvidia representative told me that Nvidia technologies are designed to improve many areas of the economy in this way. Even as AI drives new power demand today, experts are innovating to reduce future power demands – including through better chip designs and turning data centres into massive sinks that can be located strategically, closer to renewable power sources. The result of these pressures creates a tension between near-term AI energy demand and future AI energy savings.
Manufacturing’s return to the US, and the rise of electric cars and heat pumps, represent a general increase in energy demand, which the AI wave will only accelerate. This further complicates the position of the tech companies, which have signed commitments to reduce their emissions but are also under pressure to reap the benefits of powerful new AI and are struggling to balance both sides. The bigger emissions of companies like Microsoft and Google also make clear the significance of AI as a major issue for their climate goals, as well as for the broader sustainability and corporate responsibility issues.
Source: The New York Times
