Washington, DC (February 1, 2024) – Today, Greenpeace USA endorsed the Artificial Intelligence Environmental Impacts Act of 2024 introduced by Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM). Senator Markey and Heinrich’s bill would help in assessing Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) environmental footprint, and create a standardized system for tracking energy use and emissions that can provide much-needed transparency to the AI industry.
Erik Kojola Greenpeace USA’s senior research specialist said: “As companies rapidly develop artificial intelligence technologies that could transform how society works and communicates, we must also pay attention to the impacts on the climate. Creating and using AI models requires large amounts of energy, water, and computer hardware which leads to carbon emissions, e-waste, and other types of pollution.
This legislation will help ensure that new digital technologies like AI don’t exacerbate the climate crisis and the environmental injustices from mining, pollution, and e-waste disposal. Currently, there is a lack of quality data on the energy consumed by AI models. Thus, studying the environmental impacts and creating disclosure standards to track energy and resource use from AI is a first step in holding companies accountable and shedding light on a new technology and opaque industry.”
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Contact: Gujari Singh, Greenpeace USA Senior Communications Specialist, [email protected], (631) 404-9977
Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.
