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Microsoft’s AI Push Imperils Climate Goal as Carbon Emissions Jump 30%
(www.bloomberg.com)
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
I am one of the "tech savvy people" and I appreciate the future that machine learning and generative AI can help us usher in, regardless of whether my understanding at the detail level is imperfect. I don't want it forecefully integrated into anything I use really, and I certainly don't want it forcefully integrated into everything, especially (glances at headline) to the detriment of other aspects of human life and happiness. I want it available to me as a discrete tool when needed.
While I respect the reality that others may have different desires than I do, I remain skeptical that a large number of consumers literally want it to be on every damn thing like angry birds, to the point where its usage needs to be heavily factored into the environmental impact of corporations.
If that's somehow a stepping stone period of development that we must pass through to get to the good stuff, then I hope they (in the field generally, not specifically MS) are turning all that horsepower to coming up with innovative climate-positive measures that we are capable of implementing as a near-term goal.