A Nature study reported by Le Monde finds AI could unlock several billion extra barrels from existing fields and cut drilling costs, pushing CO2 emissions up. The Wall Street Journal sees AI's biggest energy effect in the oil patch, not data centres.
Artificial intelligence is moving into oil and gas production, used to squeeze more out of existing fields and to lower the cost of drilling. That raises a contested question about its climate balance: whether AI's decisive effect on emissions comes from the electricity its data centres consume or from the fossil fuel output it helps unlock.
A study published in Nature finds that artificial intelligence will let producers recover several billion additional barrels from existing fields and lower drilling costs, which would push CO2 emissions further up, Le Monde reported. The Wall Street Journal argues that AI's biggest energy effect may be in the oil patch rather than in the data centre.