This blog post is in part a response to some of the ecological or environmental criticism circulating around about AI – and, of course, to empty my head of some of the arguments circling around the issue . Recent articles suggest a huge increase in CO2 emissions and water consumption. These worrying reports have prompted the UK government to develop a Digital Sustainability report on the use of energy and water consumption. This has led to findings that that a projected scale of increase for AI technologies would demand fresh water usage of “more than half of the UK’s total water usage” amongst other issues on energy demand too. The rise of AI seems to be on an unsustainable trajectory also in terms of CO2 production and water use, with a recent report suggesting that in 2025 AI produced as much CO2 as the city of New York. However, I have noticed that methods to mitigate or problemitise these catastrophic effects often apportion blame in the wrong areas and to the wrong people. This i...