《A translated The Planetary Press article (※1)》
U.S. tech giant Google has declared that it will no longer develop custom artificial intelligence (AI) for oil and gas companies that extract fossil fuels around the world.
In an interview with the IT industry outlet the CUBE, Will Grannis, managing director of Google Cloud, said, “Google will no longer build AI or machine learning (ML) for the oil and gas industry that aids the extraction of fossil fuels.” Instead, the company will focus on developing AI to improve the businesses of companies in the renewable energy sector.
Oil extraction (Photo: Pickpik [Public Domain])
After a report was released by the environmental NGO Greenpeace, Google conveyed the same pledge to the tech news site OneZero. The report detailed how Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are hindering efforts to address climate change by providing technologies to oil and gas companies that aid fossil fuel extraction.
“What undermines the climate commitments of these three companies is their ongoing relationships with the oil and gas industry itself. Big Tech has been pitching major oil companies on how machine learning systems and other AI capabilities can help extract oil and gas more efficiently,” said Elizabeth Jardim, a co-author of the report and a senior corporate campaigner at Greenpeace USA, in January. She added, “If we are to avert further catastrophic warming, the next decade is critical. This is no time to further empower the industries at the root of the climate crisis.”
Greenpeace also pointed out that Google has not provided details about how the oil and gas industry has used AI and other technologies. In response, Google emphasized that while Google Cloud took in about $65 million from oil and gas companies in 2019, that amount accounted for less than 1 percent of its total revenue.
Nevertheless, Greenpeace recognizes that Google is one of the most active purchasers of renewable energy worldwide. In 2017, Google announced a switch to 100% renewable energy, and since then it has matched all of its electricity use around the world with 100% renewable energy. Google’s total renewable energy capacity amounts to 5,500 MW.
Google headquarters in the United States (Photo: Niharb/Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])
Microsoft, for its part, responded to Greenpeace’s report by defending its relationships with oil and gas companies while repeatedly emphasizing its responsibility to address climate change and the need to transition to a zero-carbon future.
“We agree that the world faces a climate crisis and that we all need to act more aggressively, and urgently, to reach a zero-carbon future,” the company stated. “But the reality is that the world’s energy supply currently depends on fossil fuels, and as standards of living rise around the globe, more energy will be needed. Considering that reality, the transition to a zero-carbon future is among the most challenging in human history,” it argued.
Greenpeace applauded Google’s withdrawal from developing AI capabilities for oil and gas companies and hopes Amazon and Microsoft will follow suit.
Elizabeth Jardim of Greenpeace said, “Google still has legacy contracts with oil and gas companies, and we want to see those relationships ended, but we welcome Google’s move to commit to not developing technologies that aid fossil fuel extraction for oil and gas companies going forward.” She added, “We expect Microsoft and Amazon to quickly end their AI partnerships with oil and gas companies that undermine their climate commitments and further fuel the climate crisis.”
※1 This article is a translation of “Google Pledges to No Longer Build Custom AI for Oil and Gas Extraction” by Kimberly White of The Planetary Press, a partner organization of “Covering Climate Now” (Climate Covering Now）, of which GNV is also a partner. “Covering Climate Now” designated the week of September 21–28, 2020, as a week of coverage. We would like to take this opportunity to thank The Planetary Press and Ms. White for providing the article.
Writer: Kimberly White (The Planetary Press)
Translation: Maika Kajigaya
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