How AI could help the climate
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Leaders | Friend, not foe<br>How AI could help the climate<br>The technology could help decarbonise the industries that have proved the hardest to clean up<br>Share
Illustration: Rose Wong
Apr 10th 2025|3 min read
Even if you don’t worry that artificial intelligence (AI) will destroy the human race, you might fret that its fearsome appetite for electricity will destroy the environment. Asking ChatGPT a question means using ten times more energy than an old-fashioned search query. Google’s greenhouse-gas emissions rose by nearly half between 2019 and 2023, as the AI boom took off; Microsoft’s are up by almost 30% since 2020. With huge investments in new data centres planned, more rises seem baked in. But the doom-mongering is misplaced. In absolute terms, AI may be less energy-hungry than many people assume. Better still, AI can help decarbonise the industries that have proved hardest to clean up.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Friend, not foe ”
From the April 12th 2025 edition<br>Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents<br>⇒Explore the edition
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