Before artificial intelligence (AI) technology started to be accelerated, most of the global technology conglomerate companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta and so on were seen to have their own climate goals, where they wanted to reduce the rate of carbon dioxide gas production, and reduce the carbon footprint by a year like 2030.
However, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, it is seen that many of these companies have shown an increase in electricity consumption.
Google in particular has shown an increase in carbon dioxide gas of 48 percent since 2019 especially due to the development of their AI technology. Sam Altman, CEO and founder of the OpenAI company that developed ChatGPT's AI technology expressed the desire to develop several data centers that would consume as much as 5 GigaWatts of electrical power.
Eric Schmidt, one of the founders of Google said that the conversation about the climate goals of these companies is a burden to the development of AI technology, because for now, the only way for such technology to develop is through access to inference and machine learning technologies that will consume the power of more.
In fact, he said that the conversation about the development of this technology will not please any party, and for now, to let the companies that develop this technology, so that it can be used for the purpose of stabilizing the earth's climate in the future.
This seems difficult to digest, because as Eric Schmidt said, the need for electricity and cooling to develop AI technology knows no limit at the moment, and whether it is worth it to let these companies use as much electricity as they need. At first glance, it is like creating a new problem to solve an old problem.