MIT AI Risk Repository · Risk Category · 68.05.00
Environmental risk
Description
"AI models are often trained using large amounts of computation. This process is very energy intensive, potentially leading to significant greenhouse emissions depending on the energy sources [132]. Experts believe drastically increasing carbon emissions could accelerate climate change, which may constitute a catastrophic risk [133]."
From Dimensional Characterization and Pathway Modeling for Catastrophic AI Risks (Chin2025), as extracted by the MIT AI Risk Repository (CC BY 4.0).
Classification
- Subdomain
- 6.6 Environmental harm
- Causal entity
- Other
- Intent
- Unintentional
- Timing
- Pre-deployment
Subdomain definition: The development and operation of AI systems causing environmental harm, such as through energy consumption of data centers, or material and carbon footprints associated with AI hardware.