2024-07-02 21:30:07
The reason is the increased energy consumption of data centers, the buildings that house the computer servers that form the backbone of the cloud, and the websites or mobile apps.
Google said in a report on Tuesday that surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and computing power is hurting its efforts to reduce carbon emissions, a problem faced by its rivals Amazon and Microsoft. The online search giant’s greenhouse gas emissions reached 14.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023, up 48% from the base year 2019, according to its annual environmental report.
The reason is the increased energy consumption of data centers, the buildings that house the computer servers that form the backbone of the cloud, as well as websites, mobile apps, online services, and all the new generative AI tools like ChatGPT.“Reducing emissions can be difficult when we integrate AI into our products”the California group noted.
More computing power
He pointed to increased energy demand due to the need for more computing power for AI, as well as emissions from infrastructure investments (i.e. building new data centers or upgrading existing ones). Google has pledged to achieve net zero emissions across all its activities by 2030. Microsoft, the world’s second-largest cloud provider, has also set itself a goal of achieving negative carbon emissions by 2030.
As for Amazon, the world leader in the cloud thanks to its specialized offshoot AWS, it does not expect such results until 2040. Its main business remains online sales, which requires warehouses and logistics centers around the world. The three American giants highlighted their efforts to reduce waste and replace the water consumed (used to cool servers), as well as their investments in renewable energy and emerging technologies to capture and store carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.
Optimizing energy consumption with artificial intelligence
But the success of generative AI, popularized by ChatGPT (developed by OpenAI, whose main investor is Microsoft), could call their progress into question. In 2023, Microsoft’s emissions increased by 29% compared to 2020. This year, the Windows Group announced investments of more than $15 billion in AI abroad, from Germany to China, France to Japan and Indonesia, in particular in building new suitable data centers and financial. The necessary energy infrastructure.
Nevertheless, the company assures that advances in artificial intelligence can optimize energy consumption and will help find new solutions to combat global warming.
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