Google's greenhouse gas emissions are soaring thanks to AI

As Google rushes to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into its products, a problem has emerged: the systems powering its AI tools have significantly increased the company’s greenhouse gas emissions. The energy-intensive data centers required to run these systems consume a substantial amount of energy and contribute to the rise in emissions. Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have soared 48% since 2019, primarily due to increased data center energy consumption and emissions from the supply chain. The company has set a goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030 but acknowledges that this may be challenging due to the complex and uncertain environmental impact of AI. Despite the drawbacks, Google and other tech rivals continue to invest in AI, which is viewed as the next major tech revolution.