Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in May. One of the major concerns around AI has been the potential environmental impact of its development. — AP.Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen 48% since 2019, according to the firm’s latest environmental report, driven by the increasing power demands of artificial intelligence .
In January, Google committed to investing US$1bil in the UK to build a new data centre in response to demands around AI. “As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands from the greater intensity of AI compute, and the emissions associated with the expected increases in our technical infrastructure investment.”
“In spite of the progress we are making, we face significant challenges that we’re actively working through,” Google said.