For our final episode in this series on the environment, Alix interviewed Karen Hao on how tough it is to report on environmental impacts of AI.

The conversation focusses on two of Karen’s recent stories, linked below. One of the biggest barriers to consistent reporting on AI’s climate injustices is the sheer opaqueness of information about what companies are trying to do when building infrastructure and what they think the actual costs — primarily of energy use and water — will be. Tech companies that Karen has written about enter communities via shell companies and promise relatively big deals for small municipalities if they allow development of new data centres — and community members often don’t know what they’re signing up for before it’s too late.

Listen to learn about how difficult it is to report on this industry, and the tactics and methods Karen has to use to tell her stories.

Further reading:

• Microsoft’s Hypocrisy on AI by Karen Hao
• AI is Taking Water from the Desert by Karen Hao

Karen Hao is an American journalist who writes for publications like The Atlantic. She was previously a foreign correspondent based in Hong Kong for The Wall Street Journal and a senior artificial intelligence editor at the MIT Technology Review. She is best known for her coverage on AI research, technology ethics and the social impact of AI.