When Microsoft Corp. pledged four years ago to remove more carbon than it emits by the end of the decade, it was one of the most ambitious and comprehensive plans to tackle climate change. Now the software giant's relentless push to be the global leader in artificial intelligence is putting that goal in peril.
The Seattle-based companys total planet-warming impact is about 30% higher today than it was in 2020, according to the latest sustainability report published Wednesday. That makes getting to below zero by 2030 even harder than it was when it announced its carbon-negative goal.
Now to meet its goals, the software giant will have to make serious progress very quickly in gaining access to green steel and concrete and less carbon-intensive chips, said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, in an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Green. In 2020, we unveiled what we called our carbon moonshot. That was before the explosion in artificial intelligence, he said. So in many ways the moon is five times as far away as it was in 2020, if you just think of our own forecast for the expansion of AI and its electrical needs.
Microsofts predicament is one of the first concrete examples of how the pursuit of AI is colliding with efforts to cut emissions. Choosing to capitalize on its early lead in the new market for generative AI has made Microsoft the most valuable company in the world, but its leaders also acknowledge keeping up with demand will mean investing more heavily in polluting assets.
AI products are power hungry and data-processing heavy. That first increases the workload of existing centers, which increases energy use. But such is the demand that, to keep up, Microsoft has to also build new data centers. That requires carbon-intensive cement, steel and microchips.
Microsoft Corp. pledged four years ago to remove more carbon than it emits by the end of the decade
I wonder how does the push for AI translate into more pollution. Not doubting it, just asking what the process entails.Computational power takes a lot of electrical power.
I wonder how does the push for AI translate into more pollution. Not doubting it, just asking what the process entails.The servers that run the AI consume a ridiculous amount of electricity.
I wonder how does the push for AI translate into more pollution. Not doubting it, just asking what the process entails.AI algorithms are comparable to crypto mining in terms of computational intensiveness.