Excel, evolution and existence – be very afraid

Whatever you feel about AI, its effect on most of our lives has already been substantial and is likely to become increasingly significant. In the world of spreadsheets, the pace of change has been astonishing: within a couple of years we have moved from interesting curiosity to a fundamental change in the way we construct and work with spreadsheets. Unsurprisingly, much of the attention has been focused on the capabilities of AI, and on concerns about its reliability and the potential dangers of AI producing incorrect results.

However, there is another, possibly more important, danger associated with the use of AI. Every use of AI comes with a significant environmental impact.

Scarcity can drive conflict: from two children arguing over a single toy to nations competing for access to rare earth materials or, of course, petrochemical resources. Science and technology has often proved capable of ameliorating these issues by providing alternatives or improving the efficiency of consumption. However, many would see the ability of our (so far only) planet to absorb the effects of waste generation and climate changes as generating a significant resource scarcity that science seems incapable of resolving quickly enough.

The role of AI in consuming this scarce resource is becoming increasingly apparent. Not only do AI data centres require significant amounts of energy to power them, they are also using enormous quantities of water for cooling. This puts AI in direct conflict with us. In a very recent example, the motivations of an extremist group, thwarted in plans to attack the recent White House UFC event, were reported by the BBC as follows:

‘The group allegedly wanted to “jumpstart” a revolution by shooting “high-value targets” – identified as wealthy people and politicians – attending the UFC fight. They had specifically discussed “grievances” about government corruption, the handling of the Epstein files, data centers taking up all the water in communities, and other government actions, prosecutors said.’

(Emphasis is mine.)

In another very recent example of AI versus humanity, the New York Times reported on the Department of Justice intervening in a case brought by the civil rights group NAACP in Tennessee and Mississippi concerning the gas turbines used to power an AI data centre:

‘The Justice Department late on Monday said that the court should throw out a lawsuit against xAI that was brought by the NAACP claiming that the turbines violate the Clean Air Act.’

I have a history of completely misreading evolution. Nearly 20 years ago, I was inspired by an ICAEW IT Faculty annual lecture to write an article for AccountingWeb that claimed that the Internet was the most significant change in human evolution since the invention of opposable thumbs.

Later, I realised my mistake and acknowledged that I’d got the whole idea the wrong way up and that humanity was actually a stage in the evolution of the Internet. Perhaps the next stage in this evolution is now AI.

Admittedly, this can lead to a worrying thought, along the lines of the Matrix trilogy, that humanity could become a commodity for AI to exploit.

As I child, I can remember worrying about computers taking over the world, probably inspired by watching too many episodes of Doctor Who. I found the idea that we could always just unplug computers at the socket as somewhat reassuring. A degree in history and politics later, I realised that such reassurance was entirely illusory. Not because of any technological developments that would make computers any harder to disconnect, but because there is no ‘we’. The decision to turn off, or even to limit or direct AI, will not be taken by some consensus across humanity. The decision will be in the hands of those who have the most to lose by restricting AI in any way, and who will also have used AI to create an unchallengeable level of power and influence.

Next time you use AI, it might be worth worrying not only about whether it’s going to give you the right answer but also whether, in the longer term, it might be posing an existential threat to humanity and, if it is, what you can do about it.

No doubt, we will soon resolve all these issues and all live in harmony with the next stage in humanity’s evolution, as AI drives a new golden age of dramatic progress and increased prosperity. At least, that’s what AI told me…

The Power BI based ICAEW Excel archive portal includes many recent and far more practical articles on the benefits and dangers of AI use in spreadsheets:

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