Google has been unable to reduce its environmental impact due to its reliance on energy-consuming data units for its AI-based products. The company has reported that its greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 48% in the past five years.
Google primarily attributes this to the overconsumption of electricity for data units and supply chain discharges. In its annual environmental report, it also disclosed that its emissions in 2023 had increased by 13% from the previous year, reaching 14.3 million metric tons.
The company is known to have made a significant number of investments in AI, with the vision of achieving net zero discharge by 2030, which it agrees will pose a real challenge. It believes that the key lies in how AI impacts the environmental factor, which is a complex aspect to understand.
If 2019 is to be considered, the company’s discharge has increased by 50% from then on. This necessitates reducing carbon dioxide in relation to its discharge.
According to the International Energy Agency, data centers’ overall power usage might double from 2022 levels to 1,000TWh (terawatt hours) in 2026, which is around the same amount of power demand as Japan. According to estimations made by research firm SemiAnalysis, data centers will account for 4.5% of worldwide energy generation by 2030 as a result of AI.
Data units have a big hand in controlling the prototypes that reinforce AI modules such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT-4, which help boost ChatGPT chatbots. Microsoft acknowledged that the energy consumption of its data units would be alarming in 2024. According to Brad Smith, the company’s President, the company’s AI plans are in a state of perpetual flux.
According to Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, artificial intelligence (AI) will assist in addressing the challenges posed by the climate situation, as the company is considering ways to offset additional expenses related to the production of clean electricity through green energy.
The technology giants are randomly investing in renewable energy to address their climate vision effectively.
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