AI’s potential climate benefits outweighed by role in boosting fossil fuels, study finds
Modelling finds AI-driven productivity gains in coal, oil and gas enable more emissions than applications in renewables avoid AI-driven productivity gains enable more planet-heating pollution from fossil fuels than they avoid from renewables, a study has found. Researchers modelled the technical potential for AI to boost clean power generation along with projections for how it can help produce coal, oil and gas. Across 64 scenarios, they found net yearly carbon pollution rose by 0.47-1.8 gigaton
Record details
Published: 11 August 2026
Source: The Guardian
Category: News
Topics: Jobs & economy · Environment
Retrieved: 12 August 2026
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ethics.ai (11 August 2026), “AI’s potential climate benefits outweighed by role in boosting fossil fuels, study finds,” evidence record 18396, https://ethics.ai/record/18396 (originally published by The Guardian).
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