A new report today hits back at claims that artificial intelligence (AI) could help solve the climate crisis, saying the technology could lead to soaring global energy and water consumption and the 'turbo' of climate disinformation. It warned that this could lead to “charges.”
Published by a coalition of green groups including Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace; AI’s threat to climate change Despite widespread publicity about how AI could address the climate crisis, it warns that the technology poses two “grave and immediate dangers” that are rarely discussed.
The study found that if the AI industry improved data center energy efficiency by 10 percent and doubled the number of centers it operates to meet the surge in demand for more advanced digital tools, it would significantly reduce global emissions. It is argued that this could lead to an increase.
This reflects a recent study from the University of Washington that found that the hundreds of millions of queries logged each day on Open AI's ChatGPT platform require energy equivalent to that used by 33,000 U.S. households. Masu. A single GPT query is reported to consume 15 times more energy than a Google search.
The warning contradicts industry claims that AI could play a major role in reducing global emissions by helping optimize infrastructure performance. For example, at last year's COP28 climate summit, Google claimed that 5 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced through the use of AI.
The technology giant, which aims to run all of its data centers and campuses on carbon-free energy by 2030, says new design methodologies and technologies will improve the efficiency of Google-owned and operated sites. The number of data centers has increased by more than 1.5 times.
But today's study also identifies AI-generated misinformation and disinformation as one of the biggest threats to the global economy, stating that “large-scale AI models are already enabling an explosion of disinformation.” This reflects the World Economic Forum's warning that
The report adds that AI could make it easier for climate change deniers to develop convincingly false content and spread it across social media, targeted advertising and search engines.
“We hear a lot about how AI can save the planet, but we shouldn't believe the hype,” said Michael Koo, climate disinformation program director at Friends of the Earth. “AI will not take away the internal combustion engine from us. Find out how much more energy will be consumed by AI in the coming years and how disinformation about climate change will flood the region with AI.” And people will be furious.”
Koo also argued that there is no reason to believe that AI will reduce overall energy usage. “All evidence shows that every new data center will significantly increase energy usage,” he added. “We know that data centers will be slightly more efficient, but the simple math is that the carbon footprint will increase.
“We can see AI destroying the information ecosystem just when we need it to put it back together. It's easy to see how AI could become a tool for climate disinformation, as we see people being micro-targeted with climate disinformation content in some kind of relentless way. please.”
This report provides a series of recommendations on how governments, regulators, and businesses can ensure better accountability, transparency, and safety as AI technologies evolve.
The law requires regulators to require companies to publicly report the energy use and emissions generated within the full lifecycle of their AI models, and to assess and report the environmental and social justice impacts of their technology development. , states that there is a need to ensure that AI models explain how they generate information. The accuracy of climate-related data is measured.
The research also requires companies to demonstrate that their products are safe for people and the environment, how that decision is made, and how their algorithms are protected against discrimination, bias and disinformation. The government is asking the government to explain how it is protected.
Governments will also develop common standards for AI safety reporting, work with the International Panel on Climate Change to develop coordinated global monitoring, and improve the impact of AI systems on climate disinformation. The group argues that research should be funded to better understand the problem.
Finally, the report urges governments to enforce safety and transparency rules with strong penalties for non-compliance, require reporting to be certified by chief information officers, and ensure that companies and their executives They seek to ensure that they are held accountable for the damage that occurs as a result of negative generative impacts. AI – including environmental hazards.
“Over the past decade, governments have taken far too little action to regulate social media technology companies, even as their social harms have become clearer,” the report claims. “Legislators must not make this mistake again and, like most other industries, should act quickly to introduce regulations that require safety, transparency, and accountability for AI companies and their products.” It is.
“Without (significantly) building on the initial AI safety blueprints introduced in the US and EU, the great promise of AI technology could lead to a far greater disaster.”
However, despite such warnings, a recent Airswift report found that the renewable energy sector is ahead of the curve in AI adoption, with 32 percent of sector professionals already using AI technology. , claims to be higher than the energy industry average of 27 percent. A further 13% will use virtual consultants and AI to tune carbon capture systems, as green use cases proliferate, from models trained on producer data to reduce supply chain emissions. We expect to have an AI system in place within six months.
Additionally, nearly four in five renewable energy professionals are optimistic about the future impact of AI, with more than three-quarters expecting increased personal productivity and 62 percent expecting career advancement opportunities. half expect their salaries to increase due to technology.
Proponents of AI say it could prove essential for optimizing smart grids, deploying electric vehicles, and developing low-carbon buildings and infrastructure, all of which will help data centers They argue that an increase in energy demand should result in a net reduction in emissions. .
But some academics continue to warn that without stronger guardrails, superintelligent AI could pose an even more serious existential threat to humanity than climate change.
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