Former tech employees to discuss ‘Another Dark Side’ of AI’s climate impact in Willits
TACAW/COURTESY H
When most people think of the confluence of AI and climate, they think of the carbon output from data centers and the energy required to run the AI programs themselves, according to Microsoft employees turned environmental advocates Holly and Will Alpine.
The problem, as the Alpines see it, is that the focus on AI data centers and power consumption is missing the forest for the trees.
“Everyone is worried about the emissions from the butane of the lighter, when the lighter is going out and starting a forest fire,” said Holly, referring to evidence that AI is being used to extract more fossil fuels from the ground.
AI has been used to analyze seismic waves and detect underground oil and gas reserves faster and more accurately than traditional methods, according to Holly and Will. This is in addition to a number of other oil extraction and delivery efficiencies that Microsoft technology has revealed.
According to a Microsoft Press release, Microsoft technologies will help ExxonMobil increase its production growth by “as much as 50,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day by 2025.”
At their “Another Dark Side of AI” talk at The Arts Campus at Willits, the Alpines, whose careers at Microsoft have been centered around making the company more sustainable, will discuss hypocrisy in tech that led them both to leave their jobs in tech and co-found Enabled Emissions, an environmental advocacy group focused on highlighting that hypocrisy.
“The highest point for us to make is that the way that AI is being used today is the secret weapon locking us into a fossil-fueled future,” Will said. “At the same time, we’re fighting this narrative that is being pushed hard by big tech around the positive hypothetical benefits of AI for sustainability, when it is doing much more harm than good.”
The event is slated for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2, at TACAW in Willits. For more information and to RSVP, go to https://www.aspensnowmass.com/visit/events/aspen-u-speaker-series/aspen-u-another-dark-side-of-ai.
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