Google has unveiled a new project that will reduce the environmental impact of AI on Earth.
The tech company unveiled Project Suncatcher, which aims to launch data centers in space powered by solar energy, Business Insider reports. Google is exploring bringing the project to life through a web of solar-powered satellites, equipped with its Tensor Processing Unit AI chips, according to a press release. The project aims to “one day scale machine learning in space.”
“Inspired by other Google moonshots like autonomous vehicles and quantum computing, we’ve begun work on the foundational work needed to one day make this future possible,” notes the press release.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed that the company plans to launch the space data centers by 2027.
“We’ll send tiny, tiny racks of machines, and have them in satellites, test them out, and then start scaling from there,” Pichai said, according to Business Insider. “At Google, we’re always proud of taking moonshots. One of our moonshots is: How do we one day have data centers in space so that we can better harness the energy from the sun, which is one hundred trillion times more energy than we produce in all of Earth today.”
Google’s planned efforts in space could alleviate concerns about AI’s environmental impact, including the materials and minerals required, amount of water used, electronic waste produced, and greenhouse gasses emitted for the data centers to operate.
“There is still much we don’t know about the environmental impact of AI, but some of the data we do have is concerning,” Sally Radwan, the chief digital officer of the United Nations Environment Program, said in a press release in November, per Business Insider. “We need to make sure the net effect of AI on the planet is positive before we deploy the technology at scale.”
