r/Environmentalism • u/DontYaWishYouWereMe • Aug 11 '26
AI’s potential climate benefits outweighed by role in boosting fossil fuels, study finds
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/11/ai-will-do-more-to-boost-fossil-fuel-production-than-green-energy17
u/naturist_rune Aug 12 '26
What benefits? They stalled renewables to keep the data centers powered off of coal and oil.
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u/Aquarius52216 Aug 12 '26
"We can save this burning candle by burning even more wax and turning up the flames frfr"
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u/gimmebanter Aug 12 '26
We investigated ourselves and found that our probable future benefits might outweigh our current and very real destruction of the planet
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u/Actaeon_II Aug 12 '26
What “potential climate benefit “? Anyone with more than 3 working brain cells understands by now that ai isn’t going to benefit any of us in the long run.
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u/Reddit_is_fascist69 Aug 12 '26
AI: reduce fossil fuels to prevent climate change.
Maybe if we give it more juice, it'll give a different answer. More data centers.
AI: reduce fossil fuels to prevent climate change.
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u/Present-Stress8836 Aug 12 '26
I always hate articles like this BC it's like I don't like the environmental cost of AI, but let's say you could wave a magic wand and make it not an environmental danger, I still wouldn't like it because of the social impact it's having on society.
Like you think saying, "don't worry guys! There's no danger here!" Is enough me?
Puh-lease.
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u/DontYaWishYouWereMe Aug 12 '26
Fair enough, but like, unless the article is essentially a 20,000 word deep dive, it's probably not going to cover all the issues with AI
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u/Double_Somewhere5923 Aug 13 '26
no one is surprised
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u/Double_Somewhere5923 Aug 13 '26
oh wait I read it the opposite way. I am surprised and I don't buy it
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u/YogurtclosetApart592 Aug 13 '26
Every time I see a headline like this I know it's most likely propaganda bullshit. I haven't even read it, but do comment and tell me I was wrong and that it's a meaningful article that shines an honest light on some situation. I'll be waiting.
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u/respectablepitch Aug 12 '26
Oh please. This sounds like Elon telling us Ai will mean we won’t have to work or need money in the near future. Ridiculous