Artificial intelligence is contributing to an enormous increase in emissions

Google's greenhouse gas emissions were 48 % higher in 2023 than in 2019, the company revealed in its latest environmental report for 2024. Google states: "This is due to increasing energy needs due to the increased intensity of AI computing." The tech giant attributes the figure to the huge amount of energy required by data centers, which has also been helped by the explosive growth of AI. 

AI-powered services require a huge amount of computing power and therefore electricity (compared to standard online activities), which has sparked a wave of warnings about the technology's impact on the environment.

Google's goal is to be carbon neutral by 2030, but they admit that "with the continued integration of artificial intelligence into products, reducing emissions could be a big challenge."

Data centers are huge collections of computer servers, and artificial intelligence needs a lot of them. A generative AI system like ChatGPT can, according to recent data studies consumes approximately 33 times more energy than machines that use software for individual tasks.

The head of Britain's National Grid said in March that the combination of artificial intelligence and quantum computing will lead to a sixfold increase in demand for data centers and electricity over the next 10 years. Bill Gates says that the impact of artificial intelligence will not be as catastrophic as predicted. In a speech in London last week, he said that artificial intelligence will only increase electricity demand by 2 to 6 %.