Google’s new venture raises serious questions

Google is building an AI data center in fossil-fuel-dependant Saudi Arabia, to power the development of Arabic-language AI models and “Saudi-specific AI applications.”

While Google and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)---which has a $500B budget dedicated to AI—haven’t detailed exactly what these applications and AI models will be used for, it’s expected that they will play a part in streamlining oil and gas production, as that’s what their economy is based around, and state-owned petroleum company—Aramco—has already seen oil production gains of 15% thanks to leveraging AI to streamline operations (this is despite Saudi announcing plans to reduce reliance on oil and gas revenue in its Vision 2030 initiative).

The idea of building an AI data center in such an oil-rich country has confused many environmentalists as, in 2020, Google pledged to stop building algorithms for oil and gas production and, in 2021, committed to halving its carbon emissions by 2030. So this feels like a contradictory move from Google, despite confirming that the new venture “comports” with ongoing climate commitments.