Over in Dubai, where 90K took fossil fueled trips, they’re super concerned…in between eating all that meat and posing in their fast fashion
AI emissions are fueling a new doomerism. This time it’s climate change
There is a new doomer narrative over artificial intelligence emerging in the background at this year’s COP meeting. This one isn’t focused on a malignant superintelligence. Instead, it is over sustainability and concerns over AI’s burgeoning energy demands.
A recent study projects that by 2027, NVIDIA’s new AI servers will be consuming over 85.4 terawatt-hours annually, exceeding the energy usage of countries such as Sweden and Argentina.
Research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst suggesting that training a single AI model can emit over 284 tonnes of CO2, equivalent to the lifetime emissions of five average American cars, paints a concerning picture of AI’s environmental impact. Annually, AI’s carbon footprint is approaching 1% of global emissions.
AI’s energy demands have indeed increased dramatically. A Stanford study flags a 300,000-fold rise in AI systems’ power requirements since the early 2010s. And some of this energy is derived from fossil fuels, with data centers globally consuming over 1% of global electricity, a third of which comes from coal and natural gas.
Yeah, it’s pretty much typical for the climate cult to look at something happening and say “hey, we need to drag this into our cult”
However, what the doomers miss is the ingenuity of human research and industry. Analyzing IT’s electricity consumption back to the 2000s, Jonathan Koomey and colleagues found that the energy intensity of the global data center industry dropped by around 20% per year between 2010 and 2018. Efficiency gains in data centers, chips, and programming have outstripped the increase in energy use.
This human factor is what the doomers’ narrative misses, suggesting that while AI’s energy demands are growing, so too are the efficiencies in the systems that support it.
The Warmists do not care. Once they’ve latched onto an issue they will never let it go.
LOL anti-science gibberish
— Sneyob (@BoyensJC) December 12, 2023
So….we have to listen to 'scientists' bought and paid for by the renewables industry, NGO's and philanthrocapitalists, or whose job depends on there being an existential crises so they can continue to receive their grants….know I get it.
— Alan Jones (@AJ37MD) December 12, 2023
This is the kind of insanity we get from Warmists: they take long fossil fueled trips to say we need to ditch fossil fuels.
Read: Climate Cult Super Worried About Artificial Intelligence »