“Artificial intelligence does not provide any benefit to society,” says environmental activist

Technology companies do not stop promoting products with artificial intelligence (AI) but this technology is “useless”, unsustainable and generates “an existential crisis” for the sector, says environmental activist Sage Lenier.

A discordant speech at the Web Summit, which brings together the elite of emerging companies and investors in new technologies in Lisbon.

“AI does not provide any benefit to society,” says the American in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of the meeting.

Big businessmen allowed themselves to be seduced by “useless” products, abandoning the idea that technology should have a fundamental utility, and now they face “an existential crisis,” says Lenier.

The activist became known in 2018, at the age of 19, by creating a course at the University of Berkeley (California) titled “Solutions for a just and sustainable future,” to which hundreds of students enrolled.

Lenier has since founded an association along the same lines, “Sustainable & Just Future,” and hopes to create a documentary series on the subject.

“Some of you could consider yourself the architects, directly responsible, of the ecological crisis,” he told entrepreneurs last year in his speech at the Web Summit.

Lenier advocated for the circular economy, which focuses on recycling and reuse, to be at the center of the strategy of technology leaders, whose products often end up in the trash, contributing to waste.

A call little heard, as giants like Microsoft, Google and others continue to endlessly produce products powered by AI, an extremely energy-intensive technology, which seems to jeopardize their carbon neutrality goals.

To meet their growing electricity needs, especially those of their data storage centers, these large companies are increasingly turning to nuclear energy.

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Waste emissions

Artificial intelligence “is terrible for the planet. It is terrible for the communities that live where data centers are installed. It is simply a waste of carbon emissions, denounces the activist.

The technology sector is, however, “the only industry, at least in the United States, that tried for years to present itself as green, clean and future,” he points out, recalling that Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, “wrote several books about change.” climatic”.

According to Lenier, the technology giants have so far managed to avoid attention and controversy over ecological issues that do affect industries such as fashion or the automotive sector.

“But as soon as they saw opportunities with AI to increase shareholder returns, everyone jumped in,” he says.

With the rise of artificial intelligence, added to the impact of other industries, Lenier anticipates a bleak future.

“The situation is going to worsen quickly. The food chain will be broken. We will witness massive malnutrition and even famine,” he warns.

The electrical system should also collapse.

“You can’t have cars long term. It doesn’t matter if they are electric or not. They are not sustainable,” he highlights.

“We cannot continue producing 80 billion garments a year in a low-carbon future,” he concludes.