Advocacy Groups Raise Concerns Over AI’s Potential Role in Exacerbating Climate Issues

President Joe Biden has received a letter from advocacy groups urging him to consider how artificial intelligence could worsen climate issues.

Signed by organizations such as Accountable Tech and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the letter warned that generative AI could facilitate the spread of climate disinformation, while the energy requirements of large language models could increase carbon emissions, The Hill reported.

The groups wrote that both concerns require “basic transparency rules” not found in the Biden administration’s executive order on AI. Released in October, the directive lays out safety standards for the technology and instructs federal agencies to implement data privacy measures while training their systems.

The EO also orders the Secretary of Energy, the National Climate Adviser and other officials to form a task force with the private and academic sectors to support the development of AI-powered climate change mitigation tools. In the letter, the groups asked that the task force “consider how to ensure the AI boom does not contribute to the climate change crisis.”