"As Big Tech faces criticism for the environmental impact of artificial intelligence, companies have said the technology will actually help solve climate change. But those claims often lack scientific evidence, a new report finds. And when touting the climate benefits of AI, tech companies conflate "traditional AI" with the more environmentally harmful generative AI, a form of "bait-and-switch" that amounts to greenwashing."
"The report, commissioned by a group of environmental organizations including Beyond Fossil Fuels, Friends of the Earth, and Stand.earth, analyzed 154 statements from tech companies, including those from Google and Microsoft, which purported that AI will have a "net climate benefit." Most of those comments relate to "traditional" AI, the analysis found, which has a smaller environmental footprint than the generative AI tools that are spurring a boom in data centers."
"But whether those climate benefits are real is also unclear. Only 26% of those statements cite published academic papers, the research found, and 36% don't cite any evidence at all. Of the remaining statements, 29% cited corporate publications-the majority of which did not include peer-reviewed or published academic work-and 8% cited media, NGOs, or unpublished academic papers."
154 statements from tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, purported that AI will have a "net climate benefit." Most comments concern "traditional" AI, which has a smaller environmental footprint than the generative AI tools that are spurring a boom in data centers. Tech companies often conflate traditional and generative AI, blurring differences and presenting climate benefits and environmental harms as a package deal. Evidence for claimed climate benefits is limited: only 26% of statements cite published academic papers, 36% cite no evidence, 29% rely on corporate publications that are mostly not peer-reviewed, and 8% cite media, NGOs, or unpublished academic papers.
Read at Fast Company
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]