AI could lead to significant energy demand growth as the technology is implemented across industries, an acceleration that could also help to halve the system’s carbon intensity by 2050, according to a new report from Shell. As productivity improvements resulting from AI – including automation, especially in manufacturing – enable major economic growth, consumption of oil will continue to expand by three to five million barrels a day into the 2030s, before peaking and then declining slowly over a long period, Shell said. Natural gas demand could increase into the 2040s while the use of petrochemicals is likely to continue into the 22nd century.
