How Bad is AI for the Environment?

How Bad is AI for the Environment?

Google’s [GOOGL] emissions climbed by 48% over the last five years, largely driven by artificial intelligence (AI), according to the company’s annual environmental report, released on Tuesday. “Reducing emissions may be challenging due to increasing energy demands from the greater intensity of AI compute,” the Alphabet unit wrote in the report. Google is enhancing the AI capabilities of its upcoming Pixel 9 series, introducing new machine learning features to build on Search and Gemini available across Android devices.

Apple + OpenAI

Phil Schiller, the head of Apple’s [AAPL] App Store, is to be given an observer role on OpenAI’s board. This follows on from the announcement in June that ChatGPT would be available on the iPhone, iPad and Mac as part of a range of AI features, and will give Apple parity with Microsoft [MSFT], OpenAI’s biggest backer. Elsewhere, Apple has asked China’s Supreme People’s Court to remove references to the tech giant’s “dominant position” in a written ruling over the percentage of app revenue the iPhone-maker takes.

EU: Cold Feet on EV Tariffs?

According to Reuters, the EU is still divided on whether to impose additional tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs). The issue will be put to a vote in coming weeks. Elsewhere, EV sales in the US were better than expected. Rivian [RIVN] on Tuesday said it had no plans to produce EVs in collaboration with Volkswagen [VWAGY], after the media reported the two firms were in talks to extend a recent partnership. Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest ETFs sold Tesla [TSLA] stock for the first time in nine months, reported MarketWatch.

Cyberattack Dents US Car Sales

US automakers saw slower sales growth in Q2 as a result of a cyberattack on software provider CDK during the key June sales window. Among them were General Motors [GM], which logged a 0.6% uptick in new vehicle sales, versus a 19% jump in the same period last year; the automaker said some sales would shift to the present quarter as a consequence of the attack. Elsewhere, US fintech Affirm [AFRM] said that personal information of its card users was compromised because of a recent cybersecurity incident that affected Evolve Bank and Trust.

Record High for SoftBank

In what Bloomberg sees as a vindication of its ongoing AI pivot, shares in SoftBank [9984:T] rose 1.5% Wednesday to a new lifetime high. Masayoshi Son has been at the forefront of the pivot, which has involved a collaboration with Microsoft and start-up Perplexity AI, as well as building data centres that use Nvidia [NVDA] accelerators. Its chip unit Arm [ARM] is also trying to distinguish itself a less-energy-inefficient way to run AI.