Der frühere Google-Chef Eric Schmidt sagt, wir sollten uns voll und ganz auf den Bau von KI-Rechenzentren konzentrieren, denn „wir werden unsere Klimaziele sowieso nie erreichen“

From the article: Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says it’s time for us to fully invest in AI infrastructure because climate goals are too lofty to reach anyway.

The AI boom has spurred a wave of spending on data centers, which provide the computational power needed to train and run AI models. But the surge in development comes at a price, as data centers consume huge amounts of natural resources. According to McKinsey, data centers are expected to consume 35 gigawatts of power annually by 2030, up from 17 gigawatts last year.

The Biden administration set an ambitious target for the power sector to be carbon-neutral by 2035 and for the US economy to be net zero by 2050. But AI’s dramatic need for energy has pushed some AI execs to turn to fossil fuels, which could threaten those net-zero goals.

Schmidt’s comments came at an AI summit in Washington DC on Tuesday, where he addressed the crowd and gave his thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence. Schmidt — Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011 — also previously chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.