Irish Examiner view: AI becoming an own goal for humanity

Irish Examiner

26-05-2025

Between the US eating itself alive like a snake feasting on its own tail, Russia continuing to assault Ukraine, and the devastation in Gaza, climate change almost seems like a hoary old chestnut. A relic of another time, perhaps.
And yet that doesn't stop us feeling it. We've just been through the driest spring for European farmers in a century; last week brought an 'unprecedented' heatwave to the waters around Ireland, Devon, and Cornwall; and Europe's supplies of cocoa, wheat, and maize are now threatened by biodiversity collapse in exporting countries.
Meanwhile, in a spectacular own goal for humanity, the scale of AI data centre water and energy usage was made clear in different reports. One analysis argued that AI could be responsible for half the electricity use by data centres by the end of this year — and as much as the whole country of Japan by the end of the decade.
All for what — copyright theft of literature, news publications, and art? While AI technology as a whole has plenty of productivity and other potential benefits — for instance, in science, health, or technology — the environmental impact is stark. It's been estimated that asking ChatGPT to write a 100-word email uses 500ml of water for cooling.
That's fresh water that then evaporates and rejoins the water cycle, though that doesn't mean that its source river or lake is being replenished. That's not even factoring in the electricity.
Why we are not using AI to, frankly, develop climate sustainable AI tech seems another own goal, even if the Chinese AI models do seem to be more energy efficient.
Yet that doesn't save the planet, or the areas near AI data centres where locals frequently have no water in their taps because of them. And that's not even factoring in the amount of carbon dioxide used from powering the plants, carbon which then goes on heating the atmosphere. The US, where much of the AI infrastructure is based, is rolling back environmental regulations as it is, so it's unlikely these data centres will be powered exclusively by renewables.
All of this has a steadily more catastrophic impact on the world around us. One might argue to pull carbon from the atmosphere, we should plant more trees. Trees are wonderful things, providing life to many non-human creatures, but even then they have to be planted in the right way.
George R Stewart's seminal 1949 apocalyptic novel, Earth Abides (from the biblical verse 'men go and come, but Earth abides'), argued that humans have no particular right to survival, and indeed that if their numbers become too small civilisation itself will cease to exist.
As environmentalists say, there is no Planet B. Only time will tell if we can curb our excesses enough to mitigate some climate catastrophes. But time, alas, is not on our side.
Tesla has lost its sparkle
It's a psychological milestone, but seeing Tesla overtaken by its Chinese rival BYD in terms of European sales seems momentous. Tesla CEO Elon Musk's dabbling in government cutbacks (yet the US government spent more in the first quarter than it did in the same period last year), far-right politics, and peddling conspiracy theories has taken a toll on the company's standing, and with it, sales generally.
That doesn't mean people don't want Teslas overall, because it still sells thousands, only that they're more discerning about whether it's a brand that they want to be associated with. And its general lack of innovation in its fleet over recent years — amid forays into automonous driving, robotaxis, walking robots — has seen competitors eat at its market share.
BYD — that's Build Your Dream — had targeted Europe for EV sales, but in the face of European tariffs is now selling plug-in hybrids as well. And clearly, the market is listening.
Volkswagen is still the top of the EVs in Europe, amid plenty of competition even if some manufacturers have cooled their enthusiasm for the segment.
Still, as prices and technology improve across the industry, one may be excused for wondering if Tesla is steadily becoming dull and obsolete — everything it seemed it would never be when it launched.
Healing bonds
In a week of carnage in the Middle East, fine weather at home, and climate change threatening European supplies of chocolate, you would be forgiven for not spotting another milestone: Germany's first permanent military posting abroad since, well, you know when.
A combat unit that will eventually have 4,800 soldiers has begun deploying to Lithuania as part of a wider response to Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. It's designed to bolster the defence of the Baltic states; Lithuania is bordered by Russia's Kaliningrad to the west (home of the Russian Baltic fleet) and Moscow's unfailing ally Belarus to the east.
There was a time, not so long ago, when the very idea of the German military being anywhere in numbers other than Germany might still make a great many people nervous, purely for historical reasons.
But it says much that, when the German military came to the aid of Poland during dire flooding last September, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk managed to make light of it: 'If you see German soldiers, please do not panic. They are here to help.'
If there were ever an indication that the European Union could bridge old divides, that was probably it.
The deployment in Lithuania is a sign of the times for Nato countries — Finland is also watching over the border as Russia builds and expands bases — but it's also a sign of newfound European strength and confidence in a world when the US has increasingly become an unreliable partner.
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