Is AI Really Killing the Polar Bears?
Artificial intelligence has a real environmental footprint, but claims that AI is a major driver of climate change often confuse a growing source of electricity demand with the much larger energy system supplying that electricity. AI operates through data centres, which consume electricity and, in some locations, substantial amounts of water. Its climate impact therefore depends heavily on how that electricity is produced. When data centres are powered by coal or natural gas, AI contributes to greenhouse-gas emissions. When they are powered by nuclear, hydro, wind or solar energy, the climate impact is much lower. This paper traces the actual causal chain from AI use to electricity demand, fossil-fuel combustion, global warming, Arctic sea-ice loss and polar-bear habitat. It argues that AI’s environmental impacts deserve attention, but that focusing disproportionately on a new and visible technology risks distracting from the much larger underlying problem: the world’s continuing dependence on fossil fuels.