AI futures, meet Net Zero futures

"[One often quoted study](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2021.100340?ref=csofutures.com) estimates that IT contributes 2.1%–3.9% of our global carbon footprint. That may not sound like much. But it’s already more than all global aviation put together. And the carbon footprint of IT is growing fast. In fact, since the study was published in 2021, we have witnessed an unprecedented expansion in AI deployment. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are already rewiring the way we do business. It looks like AI video is next — and generating video is a *lot* more carbon intensive than generating text.

But let’s not forget, AI can also unlock a lot of sustainability benefits. AI is part of how the planet will reach net zero. It is already creating efficiencies across energy, transport, agriculture, and other sectors. But as things stand now, nobody really knows how to weigh up the environmental benefits of AIs against their environmental costs."

[Full article at CSO Futures](https://www.csofutures.com/news/cso-approaches-to-it-emissions-help-us-forge-the-future-of-sustainable-ai/)

Elsewhere:

* [How AI can enable a sustainable future (PwC)](https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/sustainability-climate-change/insights/how-ai-future-can-enable-sustainable-future.html) * [The Generative AI Race has a Dirty Secret (Wired)](https://www.wired.com/story/the-generative-ai-search-race-has-a-dirty-secret/) * [The Staggering Ecological Impacts of Computation and the Cloud (MIT)](https://computing.mit.edu/news/the-staggering-ecological-impacts-of-computation-and-the-cloud/)