Research suggest data centers will emit 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gas by 2030

A report from Morgan Stanley suggests the datacenter industry is on track to emit 2.5 billion tons by 2030, which is three times higher than the predictions if generative AI had not come into play.

The extra demand from GenAI will reportedly lead to a rise in emissions from 200 million tons this year to 600 million tons by 2030, thanks largely to the construction of more data centers to keep up with the demand for cloud services.

  • shirro@aussie.zoneEnglish
    9·
    3 months ago

    I am curious who buys generative AI services? The consumers seem to be people making memes or questionable porn with free services. It can’t prepare food, unblock drains or tile a bathroom. You can’t use it for anything like medicine, law or engineering where you would be professionally liable if it fucks up. How is it sustainable?

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
      3·
      3 months ago

      My company buys it. No idea what they use it for since I work in IT and I don’t use it for anything.

    • B0rax@feddit.org
      3·
      3 months ago

      A lot of companies buy it so their employees have acres to it. Like Microsoft 365 copilot for example

    • WasPentalive@lemmy.oneEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      It’s good for making up stories and making suggestions. I worked with chatGPT on how to power up a mothballed Galaxy Class starship. We created the procedure to bring the ship from inert and vacuumed to ready for warp flight.

    • undergroundoverground@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 months ago

      I see a fair amount of online adverts that use them. Usually the kind you might get orbiting an article of some kind, just using AI images as their hook.