Global warming and AI: A dangerous synergy

Global warming and artificial intelligence (AI) are two of the hottest discussion topics among scientists, technologists, economists, and policymakers today.

- PROSENJIT DATTA

They are also discussed animatedly in the corner offices of big corporations and the drawing rooms of the cognoscenti. Except for die-hard climate change deniers, almost everyone agrees that global warming is a serious threat to life and the economy, globally and locally. Global warming and climate change also offer many business opportunities—as all disasters inevitably do. But most people agree that the business opportunities of climate change are nothing compared to the threat it poses to humanity.

Meanwhile, recent developments in AI evoke mixed emotions—the potential of it revolutionizing industries and supercharging the economies for those who can use it properly is tantalizing. The dangers too are apparent—from the job losses that it will inevitably cause to the deepfakes that are destroying lives, influencing elections and generally causing havoc.

Global warming and artificial intelligence are rarely discussed together or even considered connected themes. But this is a mistake because they are linked closely. The history of global warming shows that while carbon emissions started when humans discovered how to make fire, it was really the technology revolutions that truly brought us to our current predicament. Each technology revolution—from the steam engine to thermal electricity to the hydrocarbon revolution and the rise of information technology—increased the quantum of emissions exponentially.