AI is a double-edged sword for climate change. AI impacts range across scales from data centres to the whole economy. In this talk, I survey the evidence on how AI is affecting energy transitions and carbon emissions. I disentangle the hype from the reality, and reveal the optimism bias in AI-climate assessments once the spotlight moves beyond a narrow focus on data centres. I also present new research quantifying AI impacts on global emission pathways out to 2050. I show how alignment between AI and climate action is highly consequential for the feasibility and affordability of long-term climate targets.
Environmental Change Institute (ECI)
University of Oxford
Charlie is a Professor of Energy and Climate Change in the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) at the University of Oxford, and a Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. He is also currently a visiting professor at Tokyo College and the Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI) at the University of Tokyo. Charlie works on the drivers and dynamics of energy transitions, both historically and into the future using scenarios and modelling. He has a particular interest in digitalisation, AI, and its implications for climate.
Join us for the Divisional Seminar, with Prof. Charlie Wilson as our distinguished speaker. AI is a double-edged sword for climate change. AI impacts range across scales from data centres to the whole economy. In this talk, Prof. Wilson will survey the evidence on how AI is affecting energy transitions and carbon emissions. He will disentangle the hype from the reality, and reveal the optimism bias in AI-climate assessments once the spotlight moves beyond a narrow focus on data centres. Prof. Wilson will also present new research quantifying AI impacts on global emission pathways out to 2050, showing how alignment between AI and climate action is highly consequential for the feasibility and affordability of long-term climate targets. Click here for more information and to register!