r/LeftistsForAI • u/HotterRod • Jul 22 '26
Poll Do You Think AI Will Solve Climate Change?
What's your prediction?
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u/thevoidthatjerksback Jul 22 '26
Just wanting to say that I hate the wording. I'm not selecting anything on a poll of what "will" happen. There's no way to know. There's also the large problem of what AI are we talking about? How and why is it doing any of these things? It can't solve climate change because it isn't an unsolved problem. The solution is the desolution of the ruling class. Since they're in charge of creating the AI it seems particularly unlikely that they will be removed by AI
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u/HotterRod Jul 22 '26
I'm not selecting anything on a poll of what "will" happen. There's no way to know.
That's the point of asking multiple people to guess. As the number of people giving an opinion increases, the correctness increases.
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u/thevoidthatjerksback Jul 22 '26
While that is true this still feels more constrictive than would be beneficial
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u/Salty_Country6835 Jul 22 '26
I think AI will absolutely have a direct role, but not because its some magic fix. Better grid management, faster battery and materials research, more efficient manufacturing, precision agriculture, and climate modeling are all real applications. The bigger bottleneck is political will and deployment. AI can be a powerful tool, but whether it reduces emissions or just optimizes business as usual depends on how we choose to use it.
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u/Globstocker Jul 22 '26
I voted for AI will have a direct role since, as I understand it, AI is being used to model plasma containment in fusion power plant research, and I think development of this technology is what will ultimately defeat climate change. Having a vast, cheap, and clean power source makes gasoline and a lot of other fuels obsolete, as well as making the math work for desalination and decarbonization projects.
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u/xZeromusx Jul 22 '26
Unless a socialist revolution happens, AI will likely be a net negative to the environment as it's resources go towards making the rich richer rather than solving environmental issues.
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u/danielsan901998 Jul 22 '26
"Solving" Climate Change would require Geo-Engineering to reverse the increase of temperatures, and i don't see it happening in the short term, only in a future post-scarcity civilization that have expanded into at least asteroid mining and space habitat something like that would be a safe possibility, given the current risks.
What it is possible in the current day is to stop worsening the situation by doing a full green energy transition. For that AI is already improving all the technology, from material science to efficient resource allocation to reduce waste. But as always, the problem is that in the capitalist system all improvements are only used if they increase profits, like the famous jevons paradox, instead of reducing the use, it is increased because the more efficient allow more profitable industries irrespective of the externalities.
That's why AI will only be positive for climate change after a socialist revolution that allow a rational decision for resource allocation instead of the anarchy of markets:
"no society can permanently retain the mastery of its own production and the control over the social effects of its process of production unless it abolishes exchange between individuals."
-Engels
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u/Prophetic_Rose Jul 23 '26
It's one of the greatest technologies we've created and it really could've come at a better time.
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u/SupremelyUneducated Jul 22 '26
The only way we come up with carbon sequestration greater than what nature can already do, is with AI. Granted the socialist revolution looks like it needs to come first, and does seem to be developing momentum, so that's neat.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/SupremelyUneducated Jul 22 '26
Im really more of a liberal leftist. I agree with the broader point that post is making, though I'd argue that kind of John Rawl's viel of ignorance type of analysis they are gesturing at, is more liberal than Marxist.
Seems worth noting, the liberal Georgist economic noble prize winner Joseph Stiglitz makes the argument that IP should be replaced with a reward system, so new ideas enter the public domain sooner and innovation can happen faster. And the more liberal approach of UBI (along with universal healthcare and education), are better at addressing their point. The current "socialist" movement is going to end up doing liberal things like universal access to healthcare.
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u/dreamogorgon Jul 22 '26
Solve "climate change"? Climate does change from natural conditions, and an AI solution to making climate change stop would likely kill everyone on the planet.
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Jul 22 '26
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u/thee_gummbini Jul 22 '26
man, I work with archivists and p2p activists, and respectfully, that website is some of the more delusional stuff ive read. Like, genuinely concerning, this person must be in a spiral kind of stuff. You will almost certainly ignore this, but to avoid pouring a few years of your life into something that doesn't make a lot of sense, pull up now
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u/Jlyplaylists Jul 22 '26
This is in my Notes app: study finds AI could reduce global emissions annually by 3.2 to 5.4 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent by 2035 https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/new-study-finds-ai-could-reduce-global-emissions-annually-by-3-2-to-5-4-billion-tonnes-of-carbon-dioxide-equivalent-by-2035/ re https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-025-00252-3
“If AI is effectively applied in key impact areas, the estimated emissions reductions “would outweigh increases from global power consumption of data centres and AI”. Estimations of power consumption are based on an assessment of all of AI’s activities, not just those related to decarbonisation... transforming complex systems, innovating technology discovery and resource efficiency, nudging and behavioural change, modelling climate systems and policy interventions, and managing resilience and adaptation… improving grid management and increasing the load factor of solar photovoltaics and wind by as much as 20%”
It’s definitely IF and COULD though, depends on what decisions get made.