The Shift from Facebook to Climate: Why Meta’s Ex-CTO is Now Investing in Green Technology
In a surprising move, Meta’s former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) has shifted his focus from social media to green technology. But what sparked this change of heart? According to him, it’s all about the potential for green technology to bring about significant positive change.
The Green Discount
His concept of a “green discount” is reminiscent of Bill Gates’ “green premium” - the idea that high investments in climate technologies can reduce their cost disadvantage over polluting products over time. However, not all green technologies are created equal. Some, like green steel and green cement, are currently more expensive than their polluting counterparts. Does this mean that he won’t be investing in these areas, or is he hoping that costs will come down over time?
Technology takes time to develop, so no new technology is better, faster, or cheaper from the start. But in the lifecycle of a company, in five to ten years, I have to assume that it will be competitively viable or have a cost advantage over alternatives.
This approach is not just about philanthropy; it’s about making smart investments that can drive real change.
The Tension between AI and Climate Goals
As the former head of technology and AI efforts at Meta, he has a unique perspective on the potential tension between the energy consumption of AI and climate goals. What can companies do to achieve their climate goals when the energy demands of data centers are on the rise?
AI is a foundational technology that can bring many benefits in the future. One reason I still work with Meta is that a significant part of my work is on Llama, our open-source model that enables many people in the industry to use this technology.
However, when it comes to energy consumption, he believes that we should be using AI as quickly as possible because he thinks it’s good.
In my time at Meta, we often achieved improvements of several orders of magnitude in efficiency or energy consumption. I believe that the industry is currently trying to build the best it can, and that consumes a lot of power and energy. I think that when we get to a point where this is a huge problem and we really need to optimize it from an efficiency perspective, there are many levers we can pull.
Green technology is the future
But what about the bigger picture? Electrifying everything and abolishing fossil fuels requires a massive amount of clean energy. This problem exists regardless of AI. The real challenge is to bring dozens of gigawatts of clean energy into the grid as quickly as possible every year. How can we create more solar energy, wind energy, and storage options? Can we get nuclear fusion off the ground? These are the humanitarian tipping points. They are the basis for many other things.
And KI or not, if we want to electrify everything and abolish fossil fuels, we simply need to bring a huge amount of clean energy into the grid. This problem exists regardless of whether we have KI or not.
The Future of Green Technology
As we move forward, it’s clear that green technology will play a vital role in shaping our future. With the right investments and innovations, we can create a more sustainable world for generations to come.
A sustainable world for generations to come
