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‘We’re up against forces that have all the money in the world’: Erin Brockovich on her battle against AI datacentres
In 1993, she squeezed a $333m settlement from a Californian energy company in a scandal over contaminated water. Three decades later, she has a new target in her sights – and it’s global When Erin Brockovich woke to find 30 emails from people from the same town, she realised something was going on. People email…
Majority of US’s new AI datacenters to be built on drought-hit land
Guardian analysis finds facilities to be built in some of the driest areas as outcry grows over water needed to power AI A record-shattering drought has racked much of the US. But the artificial intelligence industry is pushing ahead regardless, with the majority of planned datacenters set to be built in drought-ridden locations, a Guardian…
A disease of deforestation: how Ebola is linked to the smartphone in your pocket
As demand for cobalt, gold and other minerals grows, mining is accelerating deforestation in the Congo basin – and increasing the risk of deadly Ebola outbreaks For decades after the discovery of Ebolavirus in 1976, outbreaks of the disease were relatively small and contained, affecting a few hundred people at most. Not any more. In…
UK departments at odds over energy demands of AI datacentres
Discrepancy in forecasts raises questions over government planning for net zero One vision of the UK’s future involves a decarbonised economy powered by clean, renewable energy. Another involves making the UK an AI superpower. The government departments responsible for these two visions do not appear to have agreed on their numbers. Continue reading…
Officials hugely underestimated impact of AI datacentres on UK carbon emissions
Revised figures increase fears about energy-intensive datacentres worsening climate emergency The UK government vastly underestimated the climate impact of artificial intelligence, it has emerged, after officials raised their estimate of carbon emissions from AI by a factor of more than 100. According to new data quietly published this week, energy use by AI datacentres in…
Claims that AI can help fix climate dismissed as greenwashing
Industry using ‘diversionary’ tactics, says analyst, as energy-hungry complex functions such as video generation and deep research proliferate Tech companies are conflating traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when claiming the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate breakdown, according to a report. Most claims that AI can help avert climate breakdown refer to machine learning…
‘Just an unbelievable amount of pollution’: how big a threat is AI to the climate?
Defenders say AI can do good to fight the climate crisis. But spiralling energy and water costs leave experts worried During a golden sunset in Memphis in May, Sharon Wilson pointed a thermal imaging camera at Elon Musk’s flagship datacentre to reveal a planetary threat her eyes could not. Free from pollution controls, the gas-fired…
Datacentres demand huge amounts of electricity. Could they derail Australia’s net zero ambitions?
Banks of servers operating 24/7 generate massive amounts of heat, requiring power to run and cool them Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here Datacentre power demand in Australia could triple in five years and is forecast to exceed…
Datacenters meet resistance over environmental concerns as AI boom spreads in Latin America
An expert describes how communities in some of the world’s driest areas are demanding transparency as secretive governments court billions in foreign investment This Q&A originally appeared as part of The Guardian’s TechScape newsletter. Sign up for this weekly newsletter here. The datacenters that power the artificial intelligence boom are beyond enormous. Their financials, their…
Google plans to put datacentres in space to meet demand for AI
US technology company’s engineers want to exploit solar power and the falling cost of rocket launches Google is hatching plans to put artificial intelligence datacentres into space, with its first trial equipment sent into orbit in early 2027. Its scientists and engineers believe tightly packed constellations of about 80 solar-powered satellites could be arranged in…