We asked Big Tech about AI’s fossil fuel problem. The responses were atrocious.

Emily Atkin · 9 Sept 2026

Emily Atkin did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Data centers are not AI's biggest climate problem; fossil fuel companies' use of AI tools to boost oil and gas production is.

Their wordsdata centers are nowhere near the biggest climate problem with artificial intelligence.
Our reading
Cloud providers' AI tools are being used by oil companies to increase fossil fuel production.

Their wordsAmazon's technology explicitly helps oil companies increase production.
Our reading
"Carbon intensity" metrics let oil companies claim climate progress even as their total emissions rise from increased production.

Their words"Carbon intensity" is a greenwashing term: It measures pollution per barrel, allowing oil companies to claim climate progress even as rising production drives up total overall emissions.

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.