This is a very bold statement for anyone to make but the Former CEO of Google actually made this statement.
He recently said that we should invest heavily in AI data centers because he believes our climate goals are too ambitious for now. Many will definitely not agree with him because Climate issues freaks lots of people out including myself.
We already have serious climate problems due to way too many carbon emissions from cars and manufacturing industries and now that every big tech industry is in some sort of AI race to dominate the future, energy consumption from AI will go through thr roof.
He says that the growing energy needs of AI will actually outpace any efforts we make to reduce our carbon footprint so it's basically pointless right now. It kinda makes me feel a bit scared about the future because one thing is for sure, the big AI tech companies don't give a damn about carbon emissions as long as they'll make big profits from the business so it's us, the consumers that suffer a much worse environment.
The thing is data centers consume a lot of power and their energy use is expected to increase sharply in the coming years. So forget about reaching carbon neutrality and other climate targets set by governments.
Although Schmidt claims that better technology can help, he still seems a bit skeptical that it will be enough. He believes we should focus on harnessing AI to solve our problems instead of limiting its development just because of the threat it poses on our climatic conditions
He has a point in my opinion but I also think he's being way to pessimistic about the possibility of having a world that is carbon neutral. I believe we can build AI and still work toward a sustainable future. There's is no reason why investing in renewable energy and improving efficiency can't go hand in hand with technological advancement.