By Ajit Niranjan
Publication Date: 2026-02-17 05:00:00
Tech companies are confusing traditional artificial intelligence with generative AI when they claim the energy-hungry technology could help avert climate change, according to a report.
Most claims that AI can help avert climate change are about machine learning, rather than the power-hungry chatbots and imaging tools that are driving the industry’s explosive growth of gas-guzzling data centers, the analysis of 154 claims found.
The research, commissioned by nonprofits including Beyond Fossil Fuels and Climate Action Against Disinformation, found not a single example where popular tools like Google’s Gemini or Microsoft’s Copilot resulted in a “material, verifiable and significant” reduction in planet-heating emissions.
Ketan Joshi, energy analyst and author of the report, said the industry’s tactics were “distraction” and based on best practices that amounted to “greenwashing.”
He compared it to fossil fuel companies that advertise their modest…
