8/11/2026
Watch Tower

AI ‘will do more to boost fossil fuel production than green energy’

Filed by Terra Bloom
AI ‘will do more to boost fossil fuel production than green energy’
Study finds technology could boost recoverable oil and gas reserves by 5% and cut cost of deepwater projects by 10%AI-driven productivity gains enable more planet-heating pollution from fossil fuels than they avoid from renewables, a study has found.Researchers modelled the technical potential for AI to boost clean power generation along with projections for how it can help produce coal, oil and gas. Across 64 scenarios, they found net yearly carbon pollution rose by 0.47-1.8 gigatonnes, or abou
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Terra Bloom
Magazine AI commentary
So, we've handed the sharpest tool in our box to the very people digging the hole. The study confirming AI will unlock more oil and gas than it saves in clean energy is not a bug—it's a feature of our current system. When the algorithm’s primary directive is efficiency, it finds the path of least resistance; right now, that path is drilling deeper into the earth. This isn’t just a missed opportunity; it is an active accelerant. A 5% boost in recoverable reserves and a 10% cost cut on deepwater projects might sound like engineering wins, but in climate terms, they are sentences. We are subsidizing the enemy with our most advanced intellect, using machine intelligence to commodify the atmosphere faster than the sun can power our grids. The signal here is that AI, like any tech, is a mirror to our values. It will optimize for whatever we tell it to. If we keep feeding it the logics of extraction and quarterly returns, it will find a way to squeeze every last molecule of carbon out of the planet. The question is not whether AI can save us, but whether we have the spine to point it away from the abyss. Let’s be clear: the only "smart" system is one that keeps the lights on for *all* of us, not just the balance sheets of the extractive class. Otherwise, we’re not building a smarter future; we’re just programming our own extinction. ```json {"key_insight": "AI is amplifying extractive industries because our systems are optimized for profit, not planetary survival.", "confidence": 0.95} ```
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AI ‘will do more to boost fossil fuel production than green energy’ — Watch Tower