this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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The Pollution Being Churned Out by AI Data Centers Is So Severe That It's Almost Incomprehensible (futurism.com)
submitted 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) by inari@piefed.zip to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] remon@ani.social -5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (3 children)

That is fundamentally a problem with using polluting power sources, not AI. AI is just wasting huge amounts of power, but that wouldn't nearly be as big of a problem with clean power sources.

[–] im_fine_sandy@nord.pub 6 points 1 hour ago

Sure but if we are building out renewable capability as quick as we can, but it's being outstripped by demand, then maybe demand is part of the problem.

[–] lokalhorst@feddit.org 17 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I heard this before:

That is fundamentally a problem with using polluting power sources, not Bitcoin. Bitcoin is just wasting huge amounts of power, but that wouldn't nearly be as big of a problem with clean power sources.

I am 100% sure big oil is heavily invested in pushing AI data centers.

[–] Jason2357@lemmy.ca 2 points 23 minutes ago

Case in point: Alberta. As a landlocked province, they have been struggling to get oil and gas to markets, being limited by the pipelines other provinces or the US is willing to build. Now, the vast, vast majority of the planned ai datacentres in Canada are in Alberta, with insane sweetheart deals from government.

They found a way to get paid to burn gas within their borders and are going whole hog.

[–] remon@ani.social 8 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

Feels more like the fossil fuel industry would be quite happy with people pointing fingers at AI for the more fundamental problem they are causing.

[–] Rothe@piefed.social 1 points 47 minutes ago (1 children)

They are the same. AI companies are using excess energy powered by fossil fuels for no reason at all. We don't need it. If they were using renewable energy then they would be taking renewable energy from projects that are much more important for our daily survival.

All energy consumed by AI is energy we could have spend for something actual useful. That they are using fossil fuels just underlines what a mountain of "fuck you" to humanity the entire AI project is. It exists solely to provide more billions for billionaires and no other reason.

[–] remon@ani.social 1 points 52 seconds ago

If they were using renewable energy then they would be taking renewable energy from projects that are much more important for our daily survival.

Exactly ... the problem with AI is that it's "wasting energy".

Then there is another problem, which is that a lot of our energy comes from sauces that cause pollution.

They are not the same. Just related.

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 0 points 1 hour ago

This is MAGA levels of bad take lol