Is AI a friend or foe of the environment?

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One of the hottest topics in the investment world right now is artificial intelligence. As some AI-related stocks skyrocketed higher, especially Nvidia, Google, Apple, and Microsoft many people started paying attention as investment accounts grew. 

Some people believe that AI will “solve all the world’s problems,” quips David Rolnick, assistant professor and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at the School of Computer Science at McGill University in Quebec, Canada. 

He warns that although AI is a useful tool, it’s not enough to justify the extreme valuation investors have placed on these stocks. “As an AI professor, I would argue that when people realize the hype is bigger than reality, the generative AI bubble will burst, and it could take a bunch of more useful AI with it.”

Although making money on AI stocks is great for investors and their pocketbooks, readers want to know whether AI harms the environment, and more importantly, do the benefits of AI outweigh its threats. 

How AI is used to battle climate change

Let’s look at the positive ways AI is used to help combat climate change. “Many AI algorithms are being used to fight climate change,” says Rolnick. “From optimizing electrical grids to pinpointing flooding as it happens, mapping the effect of extreme weather on agriculture, or accelerating models of climate and weather.” 

Using satellite imaging, researchers are developing AI programs that will help identify, forecast and track hurricanes more accurately, saving a countless number of lives. AI software can also monitor and pinpoint which corporations are potential polluters, and help them lower emissions. 

“It is worth noting,” Rolnick adds, “that none of these particular applications involve the large generative models like ChatGPT that have captured public attention recently.” 

How AI causes environmental damage

There are also a lot of negatives. 

First, running an AI system eats up a lot of energy.  In particular, many of the larger AI programs, especially those using ChatGPT, are having a negative impact on the environment. Scientists say that the massive amount of computing power and electricity plays havoc with the environment by increasing carbon dioxide emissions. For example, an AI data center needs an enormous amount of land, water and electricity to function. 

According to many scientists, energy-eating AI computers have led to water shortages. Although some experts are hopeful that renewable energy will help reduce some of the damage in the future, rising energy demands may make it difficult to solve these problems. 

Rolnick says that AI algorithms are used to help with oil and gas extraction, which is a huge negative. “This is estimated to generate a half trillion dollars in additional profit for the oil and gas industry in 2025,” he says. 

Artificial intelligence companies have not been transparent about how much carbon pollution (i.e., carbon emissions) is caused by AI. Some groups, such as the World Economic Forum, have gone as far as saying there has been an explosion of “falsified information.” 

Several large tech companies have pushed back against these accusations, pledging to cut their carbon emissions by huge amounts in the distant future. 

How the government can help

As climate change causes havoc across the globe, governments are expected to introduce regulations and policies that help reduce AI carbon pollution. Most AI experts agree, however, that future AI regulations probably won’t be put in place until after the U.S. presidential election in November. 

Nevertheless, there are people working behind the scenes to require AI companies to be transparent about how much energy they use, establish safety regulations and policies, and encourage accountability (i.e., such as by not punishing whistleblowers). 

According to AI experts, it is important for companies to establish ethical guidelines and procedures to make sure AI is used responsibly and, specifically, to control how much computer power is used. 

Right now, it’s up to each company to determine their computing power needs. As expected, many companies appear to be more concerned with shareholder profits than with the environment. 

As Rolnick says, “Many large tech companies are spending a large amount of energy on AI algorithms. It’s now arguably a race to the bottom about who can build the biggest computer. They’re not motivated to solve the world’s problems, but that isn’t necessarily their fault. They have a product to sell and they want to sell it. Although AI is used to help the environment, that help is not coming from tech companies. That’s a tiny fraction of what they do.” 

Competing forces

Not surprisingly, there are competing forces within the AI community. The challenge for technology companies, AI researchers and scientists, is to encourage the positive use of AI while minimizing or controlling the negative impact on the environment. 

Unfortunately, most major technology companies are moving at breakneck speed to develop bigger AI models, primarily driven by profit.  

Some AI programs are used to help solve environmental problems. Simultaneously, other energy-intensive AI technologies intensify the threat of climate change. Amidst these and other climate factors, scientists say, we can expect to see more hurricanes, more fires, rising oceans and more environmental damage as climate change ravages the earth. 

Rolnick put it this way: “People have already started to die from climate change, but we get to decide just how bad it gets.”