AI's true environmental impact
A new study has warned that artificial intelligence significantly contributes to increasing carbon emissions from the fossil fuel industry. The construction of new data centers utilizing AI leads to the creation of power plants powered by fossil fuels, thereby elevating carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, intensive exploitation of AI in the extraction and refining of fossil fuels enhances productivity in a way that doubles or even triples emissions compared to traditional data centers—a range between 3.3 and 13 times higher—posing a threat to efforts to combat climate change and making it more difficult to achieve a balance in global emissions. As a result, emissions resulting from productivity gains in the sector could reach up to 1.8 gigatons of CO₂ annually, a figure that far exceeds the benefits of improving renewable energy efficiency, which would need to be increased four to five times to counteract this impact.
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