Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says we should focus on artificial intelligence, not climate goals

• Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt called for more AI development, even though it requires so much energy.
• AI models require enormous data centers that threaten carbon reduction targets.
• Schmidt said we’ll “never meet” the goals anyway, suggesting we let AI solve the problem.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says it’s time to fully invest in AI infrastructure because climate goals are too lofty to achieve anyway.

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

The Biden administration has set an ambitious target for the energy sector to be carbon neutral by 2035 and the US economy to be net zero by 2050. But AI’s dramatic need for energy has pushed some AI executives 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 expressed his views on the future of artificial intelligence. Schmidt — Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011 — also previously chaired the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence.

Schmidt said at the event that there are ways to reduce the negative effects AI can have on the environment, such as using better batteries and power lines to build data centers, but he believes the growth of AI will outpace the after these preventive measures.

“All of that will be affected by the enormous needs of this new technology,” Schmidt told the audience. “Because it’s a universal technology and because it’s the arrival of an extraterrestrial intelligence … we may make mistakes in how it’s used, but I can assure you we’re not going to get there through conservation.”

The presenters pressed Schmidt on whether it is possible to meet AI energy needs without ignoring conservation goals. Schmidt said he believes “we’re not going to meet the climate goals anyway because we’re not organized to do it.”

“Yes, the needs in this area are going to be a problem, but I’d rather bet on AI solving the problem than forcing it and having the problem,” Schmidt said.

In 2022, Schmidt founded White Stork, a defense company that develops AI-powered drones. In a lecture at Stanford University in April, Schmidt said that the war in Ukraine had turned him into an “arms dealer”. He also said that White Stork will “use AI in complicated and powerful ways for these essentially robotic wars.”