AI Could Help Fossil Fuel Companies Create More Emissions
New research suggests that AI's role in optimizing fossil fuel extraction could lead to a massive increase in global greenhouse gas emissions. The study argues that these emissions outweigh the environmental benefits of AI in clean energy development.
Why it matters
It challenges the narrative that AI is purely a tool for sustainability, highlighting the hidden environmental costs of industrial AI applications.
The emissions from powering data centers rightly get a lot of attention. But new research from former Microsoft sustainability workers cautions that the way artificial intelligence enhances productivity in the oil and gas industry could be much more damaging to the planet.
Published last week in the journal npj Climate Action, the research finds that AI use could significantly increase global energy emissions simply by enabling the fossil fuel industry to produce more oil and gas. At the low end, the research finds that the additional yearly emissions could be equal to Mexico’s; at the high end, AI boosting the fossil fuel industry could add as much greenhouse gas emissions as Russia, the world’s fourth-largest emitter.
That increase in emissions, the paper finds, outweighs the benefits AI provides to developing solar, wind, and other clean technologies. It also significantly outpaces projections of emissions from the global data center buildout.
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