World in ‘race against time’ to decarbonise

Declaring that there is “tremendous opportunity” for scientific advancement through the development of artificial intelligence (AI), Zoe Lofgren, ranking member of the US House of Representatives on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, says there are also concerns about the possible implications of its progress on the environment.

AI processes are very energy intensive, and the carbon footprint in its development, maintenance and disposal is extensive. In fact, researchers at OpenAI have predicted that, in the next 17 years, the information and communications technology (ICT) industry could account for 14 per cent of global emissions.

However, speaking with journalists during an international reporting tour exploring innovations in tech policy and navigating AI, organised by the Foreign Press Center in the US Department of State, in Washington, DC, recently, Lofgren emphasised the need for countries to reduce their carbon emissions.

“We have created a situation that is inconsistent with human habitation of the planet, and I feel a sense of urgency – not only do we need to curb our emissions, frankly, not something that humankind has been very good at, but we need to rapidly decarbonise what we have already done,” she said.

China, the US, and India are the three countries with the highest rates of carbon emissions.

PROGRESS IN THE US

But Lofgren acknowledged that progress was being made in the US to reduce its carbon emissions. She pointed to California, where she said the majority of energy on the grid is renewable.

“I sort of reached the conclusion we ought to continue to try to reduce our emissions. It’s very clear if we are unable to decarbonise, we’ve already brought tremendous problems for the planet. It’s too late to say, just by reducing emissions we’re gonna stop the disaster that we have purchased through our prior admissions,” she said.

“I am excited about it [AI], but also ready to do what’s necessary to protect against excesses. As someone said, ‘Cars can go fast because they have brakes’, and so we need to keep that in mind. We need to make sure that we are appropriately dealing with these new technologies that have such promise for the United States,” she added.

Lofgren highlighted the advances in the research into fusion energy as a way of combating the country’s carbon footprint.

Fusion energy research entails generating electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions.

“We have in the United States a very large number of privately funded fusion energy companies. They are making progress. In fact, one company that testified in the recent fusion hearing indicated that they had signed a contract to provide fusion energy on the grid in 2028,” she said.

Lofgren also highlighted the establishment of the National Ignition Facility in California, but noted that more federal government funding is needed to conduct further research into the science.

“We’ve also directed the national science foundation to accelerate their work on how we might decarbonise the tremendous amount of carbon that the ocean has been the sinkhole for,” she said, in explaining some of the work that the committee is doing.

“I feel we’re in a race against time, we need to do the research on decarbonisation, but we also need to do the research on fusion and we have to hope that we are successful in time for us to survive as a species,” she added.

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com