Generative AI could 'supercharge' climate disinformation
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Apr 2024
A new report has highlighted the enormous amount of water and energy consumption that AI systems require. It said AI has the potential to ‘supercharge’ climate disinformation.
The 16-page report The AI Threats To Climate Change published in March 2024 by The Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition (CAAD) explores the risks that AI poses to the climate crisis and warns that AI could turbocharge climate disinformation.
Based on the findings of the report, CAAD has made three priority recommendations for tech companies and regulators to adopt and implement.
- Transparency: Companies must report on energy use and emissions produced, assess environmental and social justice implications of developing their technologies and explain how their AI models produce information.
- Safety: Companies must demonstrate that their products are safe for people and the environment and explain how their algorithms are safeguarded against discrimination, bias and disinformation. Governments must develop common standards on AI safety reporting and work with the International Panel on Climate Change to develop coordinated global oversight.
- Accountability: Governments should enforce rules on investigating and mitigating the climate impacts of AI with clear, strong penalties for noncompliance. Companies and their executives must be held accountable for any harms that occur as a result of their products.
The current research has also found that generative AI could escalate disinformation online, including climate-related deepfakes, during an election year when countries like the UK and the US head to the polls with environmental policies at the centre of some campaigns. It said in a year when two billion people are heading to the polls, this represents an existential threat to climate action.
The report said unregulated AI “will allow climate deniers to develop persuasive false content and spread it across social media, targeted advertising and search engines”. M