The right wants us to sacrifice the planet for AI

An op-ed in The Hill from the right-wing Heartland Institute showcases a new idea that, at first glance, seems like a joke: The U.S. should drop attempts to address the climate crisis because artificial intelligence needs more power.

Millions of Americans are facing record high temperatures as a “heat dome” settles over the East. Not only was 2023 the hottest year in history, but every month in 2024 has been hotter than it was in 2023. A review of the causes of this record heat suggests that 100% is due to human activity. 

However, Heartland editor Chris Talgo says that concerns over using coal-fired power plants to feed AI’s mega-watt hunger are the real threat. 

“First, we must stop the foolish movement to transition away from a primarily fossil-fuel based energy grid toward one that relies on unaffordable, unreliable, and unscalable wind and solar power,” he writes.

If efforts to save the planet get in the way of whatever it is that AI is maybe, possibly going to do for us … then the world will just have to go.