Although artificial intelligence (AI) offers positive benefits for Southeast Asia’s climate battle, the region should not look at its usage through rose-tinted glasses. Without careful consideration, such systems may inadvertently undermine and be counterintuitive to the very climate goals that they aim to achieve.
China's DeepSeek demonstrates that AI can be trained in a more efficient way and has enormous implications for Big Tech, which will be pressured to justify efforts to reduce climate impact.
Allowing private firms to sell clean power directly to consumers via PLN's networks could help the country meet its targets without burdening the national budget and to let the state-owned electricity utility focus on grid modernisation.
Since the release of ChatGPT, the world has seen a surge in investment and use of artificial intelligence. The social and economic impacts of this boom have provoked reactions, but the environmental costs have received far less attention.