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Several climate groups have penned down an open letter to US president Joe Biden outlining the impact of artificial intelligence on the climate change crisis. The Biden administration passed an executive order in seizing the promise and managing the risks of artificial intelligence (AI). “The Executive Order establishes new standards for AI safety and security, protects Americans’ privacy, advances equity and civil rights, stands up for consumers and workers, promotes innovation and competition, advances American leadership around the world, and more,” the US government said in a press release.
“We were disappointed that AI’s potential to worsen the climate change crisis, which President Biden himself referred to as “the number one issue facing humanity,” was not addressed as a risk associated with the widespread use of AI in the EO,” noted the climate groups.
Why the worry over AI?
The 17 climate groups, include Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, Friends of the Earth, Global Action Plan, Green America, among others. “Unfounded hype from Silicon Valley says that AI can save the planet sometime in the future but research shows the opposite is actually occurring right now,” argued the climate groups.
The groups have two main areas of concern: fake news about climate change and energy requirements for AI. “AI LLMs can more quickly, cheaply, and covertly produce and distribute targeted climate disinformation which threatens to perpetuate climate denialism and slow efforts to fight climate change,” the groups said.
The second concern is over carbon emissions. “Due to their enormous energy requirements and the carbon footprint associated with their growth and proliferation, the widespread use of LLMs can increase carbon emissions.”
What do the groups want?
The groups say that tech companies should be required to publicly report on energy use and emissions produced by the full life cycle of AI models, including training, updating and search queries. Furthermore, the groups say that companies must provide an explanation to the general public of how generative AI models produce information, how their accuracy on climate change is measured, and the sources of evidence for factual claims they make.
“We were disappointed that AI’s potential to worsen the climate change crisis, which President Biden himself referred to as “the number one issue facing humanity,” was not addressed as a risk associated with the widespread use of AI in the EO,” noted the climate groups.
Why the worry over AI?
The 17 climate groups, include Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, Friends of the Earth, Global Action Plan, Green America, among others. “Unfounded hype from Silicon Valley says that AI can save the planet sometime in the future but research shows the opposite is actually occurring right now,” argued the climate groups.
The groups have two main areas of concern: fake news about climate change and energy requirements for AI. “AI LLMs can more quickly, cheaply, and covertly produce and distribute targeted climate disinformation which threatens to perpetuate climate denialism and slow efforts to fight climate change,” the groups said.
The second concern is over carbon emissions. “Due to their enormous energy requirements and the carbon footprint associated with their growth and proliferation, the widespread use of LLMs can increase carbon emissions.”
What do the groups want?
The groups say that tech companies should be required to publicly report on energy use and emissions produced by the full life cycle of AI models, including training, updating and search queries. Furthermore, the groups say that companies must provide an explanation to the general public of how generative AI models produce information, how their accuracy on climate change is measured, and the sources of evidence for factual claims they make.
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