So far, much of the conversation about the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the climate has revolved around data centers. But a new peer-reviewed study from the journal npj Climate Action shows that the way fossil fuel companies are using AI is having a far larger impact.
Emily Atkin is a climate journalist who runs the newsletter Heated. She spoke to KALW about the study.
"A lot of people don't know this, but big tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, they work directly with big fossil fuel companies like Chevron, Exxon, and BP to create custom-made AI tools to help those companies essentially drill more, drill faster, drill better," Atkin explains.
"The researchers found that the climate impacts of those AI tools for the fossil fuel industry are anywhere from three to 13 times greater than the climate impact from data centers, which is crazy because the climate impact from data centers is also very big," says Atkin.
"I was so taken aback by that because obviously the data center conversation is so important. The researchers certainly aren't saying that that needs to take a back seat or that people need to stop focusing on it. What they're arguing is that if we don't also look at the technology that AI is enabling for fossil fuel companies, if that's not part of this conversation, we're not actually working towards a safe and stable climate."
Atkin reached out to Google, Amazon, and Microsoft because they all have big contracts to make custom-made AI and cloud computing tools for the fossil fuel industry.
"And also these are three companies that really talk up their responsible AI and climate principles," Atkin says. "Unfortunately, two of the three companies did not respond at all. Google completely ghosted. Microsoft said that they have nothing to share. And Amazon essentially said, 'We're not gonna stop using these tools.'"
Atkin said she wasn't surprised by their responses, but she was disappointed.
" From my experience reporting on this issue, a lot of tech companies have gotten so wrapped up in all the good that they're doing for the climate and for responsible AI that when you point out something that is not good, they can't hear it. They're like, 'But look at all this other good stuff that we're doing.' And unfortunately, climate change is not a situation where if you do enough good, you can also do bad."
But Atkin points out that the solution for this issue is less complicated than the solution is when it comes to data centers.
"The solution is not like, 'oh, we need to really ramp down our use of AI.' These are very specific contracts, very specific use cases for specific companies. You can preserve the entire AI machine and place reasonable restrictions on these specific technologies for Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell."
You can find Atkin's story on the new report and the response from big tech companies here.
