'Time to switch out Chris Bowen': Sky News host tests ChatGPT on government's 2050 net zero targets

Sky News AU

4 days ago

Sky News host Chris Kenny has tested out ChatGPT on 2050 net zero targets, finding answers which 'stack up against what the government is doing to us in its national energy self-harm'.
He put the artificial intelligence application to the test by first asking whether Australia getting to net zero by 2050 was achievable.
He said response initially gave him 'more spin than facts, more aspiration than reality' about solar and wind resources and the potential for green energy jobs.
Mr Kenny asked the AI chatbot more challenging questions on net zero, which then gave him 'quite encouraging' answers.
'It recognised I was right to be sceptical, but it said net zero was technically possible. It conceded two crucial points. No one had built a renewable grid without backup and that renewables grids would all need coal, gas or nuclear backup,' he said.
'It's a bit like interviewing a green left politician, except you do eventually get to the truth with AI,' he said.
'So, I persisted [in questioning], and I got this apparently honest summary. It said that I was fundamentally right in my questioning of its assumptions.
The chatbot told Chris Kenny "Australia is imposing significant costs on itself with minimal direct environmental benefit and only speculative economic upside."
The chatbot told Mr Kenny that much of the case for Australia's transition "was based on projected benefits, political optics and climate diplomacy. Not clear, proven economic gain'.
'The public deserves realism, not marketing,' ChatGPT told Mr Kenny.
'It will cost money, create disruption, and may not deliver meaningful climate impact unless other nations act too.
'If framed as a long-term economic strategy, it needs clear evidence, not just slogans.'
'Wow, there's some artificial intelligence honesty. That's not me talking, that's ChatGPT,' Kenny said.
'That's it. Everything I've been saying about the renewable energy transition here for years, more than a decade even, is confirmed by the awesome fact-based reasoning of artificial intelligence.
'The facts on this argument all favour my case and they all stack up against what the government is doing to us in its national energy self-harm.
'It must be time to switch out Chris Bowen for ChatGPT."