AI Should Pay a Price for Its Environmental Damage
Fossil fuels are a perfect example of what happens when you fail to hold an industry accountable for its externalities.
It makes no sense to give AI a free pass on damaging the planet.
Photographer: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
Humanity has collectively decided to keep pampering the fossil-fuel industry despite knowing for decades that its products are not only harmful to long-term well-being but also imminently replaceable. It shouldn’t make the same expensive mistake with artificial intelligence.
Last week, Laurence Tubiana, chief executive officer of the European Climate Foundation, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, suggested taxing AI to raise money for climate adaptation. Tubiana helped craft the Paris climate accord and is part of the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, a group rummaging through the world’s couch cushions for spare change to help it adjust to an environment growing more chaotic and destructive as the planet gets hotter. The group has identified some obvious targets, such as taxing “premium flyers,” cryptocurrencies, fossil-fuel profits and shipping emissions.