2. AI and sustainability on collision course
Revelations that both Microsoft and Google’s carbon emissions are heading in the wrong direction added fuel to concerns that AI and sustainability are incompatible, IT Channel Oxygen reported in July.
Tell us more!
AI and sustainability were as dominant a fixture at vendor partner conferences in 2024 as Ant and Dec are on Saturday night primetime TV.
But the true implications of the former for the latter “are becoming clearer, and more concerning”, Canalys warned.
Not everyone is convinced the two themes are necessarily contradictory, however, with Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates in June claiming that AI will be more of a help than a hindrance in achieving climate goals.
He urged journalists to see the bigger picture, saying AI would enable countries cut energy consumption by making technology and electricity grids more efficient.
“Let’s not go overboard on this,” Gates reportedly said. “Datacentres are, in the most extreme case, a 6% addition [in energy demand] but probably only 2% to 2.5%. The question is, will AI accelerate a more than 6% reduction? And the answer is: certainly.”
Read the full story here.
See following page for final sustainability story that lit up 2024…
