Artificial intelligence makes Microsoft harmful to the environment
Microsoft's market value stands at a staggering $3.1 trillion, primarily driven by the hype over artificial intelligence. Nonetheless, this development hinders the company's efforts to achieve its climate-related objectives.
Four years ago, Microsoft vowed to achieve climate-neutrality, and even climate-negativity, by 2030 — an ambitious plan to offset more CO2 emissions than it produces. Unfortunately, this lofty aspiration is becoming increasingly difficult to attain as a result of the growth in AI applications.
In the past four years, the company's emissions have risen by nearly a third, largely owing to the proliferation of AI data centers, as disclosed in its recently released sustainability report. These centers consume tremendous amounts of data, causing existing ones to work harder and consume more energy. Moreover, the insatiable demand for AI solutions is forcing Microsoft to construct more data centers, necessitating the production of resources like cement, steel, and microchips, which all have carbon-intensive processes. This, in turn, is contributing negatively to Microsoft's carbon footprint.
Its report reveals that while the company reduced its emissions by 6.3 percent from 2020 to the end of 2023, its supply chain emissions rose by 30.9 percent. Consequently, total emissions jumped by 29.1 percent.
Microsoft is locked in a battle with giants like Amazon and Google to expand its AI infrastructure. It has poured billions into OpenAI, the force behind the popular chatbot, ChatGPT. Microsoft is also developing its own AI applications.
This trend illustrates the conflicting nature of AI's rise and the ambition to reduce carbon footprints. The hype around ChatGPT has played a crucial role in making Microsoft the most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of $3.1 trillion.
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Credit: Christoph Brandl - NZZ am Sonntag
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Microsoft's relentless pursuit of advancing its AI capabilities, as seen in its significant investment in OpenAI and ChatGPT, is leading to an increase in CO2 emissions. This is due to the energy consumption of AI data centers and the necessitated construction of new ones, all contributing to Microsoft's growing carbon footprint.
Despite Microsoft's commitment to becoming climate-neutral and even climate-negative by 2030, the company's CO2 emissions have escalated, largely due to the surge in AI applications, as revealed in its sustainability report. Microsoft, competing with giants like Amazon and Google in the AI sector, is finding it challenging to meet its climate-related objectives amidst this technological growth.
Source: www.ntv.de
