AI is the future of tech, but its effects on the climate could change everything 

Over the last few years, the tech industry and their energy-hungry data centers have been responsible for large increases in climate emissions, with Microsoft’s emissions growing 30 percent since 2020 and Google’s emissions up almost 50 percent over the same period. In addition, tech is investing trillions in artificial intelligence technologies that will demand still more energy. Natural gas is lining up to satisfy a major part of this increase. This gives tech the opportunity for a double win on climate — using their AI prowess to help fashion solutions to slow warming, while ensuring that the natural gas they use has the lowest methane leak rate. Reducing methane emissions is the best strategy we currently have for slowing near-term global warming and avoiding potentially catastrophic climate tipping points. Plugging methane leaks also stops the waste of natural gas, saving money and aligning with President Trump’s hydrocarbon emphasis. Climate emissions continued to increase last year, contributing to record global temperatures that are inflicting devastating climate disasters on average people — including most recently the citizens of Los Angeles, where climate driven wildfires are expected to cost more than $200 billion in damages.  Now, $200 billion is a sobering number. But it’s nothing compared to the $38 trillion a year of climate damages we’re expected to suffer by mid-century, as we hurtle toward superheated global conditions. These risk triggering climate tipping points in key natural systems like the Amazon and the Atlantic Ocean, locking in a hothouse planet of chaotic dislocation of people,…AI is the future of tech, but its effects on the climate could change everything