Artificial intelligence stands poised to dramatically accelerate the spread of climate disinformation while consuming massive amounts of energy, belying claims it will address or even solve the climate crisis, a new report warns.
“It’s not like AI is ridding us of the internal combustion engine,” said Michael Khoo of Friends of the Earth, a member of the Climate Action against Disinformation, which issued the report. “People will be outraged to see how much more energy is being consumed by AI in the coming years, as well as how it will flood the zone with disinformation about climate change,” he added.
AI queries could use as much as 10 times more computing power than a regular internet search, in some cases keeping coal-fired power plants running just to meet demand — on top of the energy required to manufacture the semiconductors and chips required. The spiking demand of AI and crypto mining operations “was literally keeping me up last night,” DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday.
Furthermore, the CAAD report warns, AI threatens to overwhelm the information marketplace with everything from deepfake videos to armies of bots inundating online platforms. “AI is perfect for flooding the zone for quick, cheaply produced crap. You can easily see how it will be a tool for climate disinformation.” Khoo said. “We will see people micro-targeted with climate disinformation content in a sort of relentless way.” (AI threats: The Guardian, The Independent; Electricity demand: Washington Post $; Granholm: E&E $, Axios $; Semiconductor manufacturing: The Verge)