The International Monetary Fund (IMF) advises nations facing economic problems driven by artificial intelligence (AI) to tax excess earnings and charge to offset AI-related carbon emissions.
The IMF said Monday that generative AI-systems like ChatGPT that can produce human-like text, sounds, and images-propagate quickly, unlike the steam engine, The Guardian reported. This rapid progress affects the global economy.
The IMF suggested a carbon tax to reduce AI's job impact, explaining that this levy would cover the environmental costs of running energy-intensive servers for AI systems. The financial agency also recommended pricing AI server carbon emissions so that the technology's price reflects these environmental costs.
Environmental Issues of AI
AI now consumes less than half of data center electricity, but it might become their main energy source, boosting electricity consumption. Recent findings in the research suggest data centers, servers, and transmission networks generate up to 1.5% of world emissions.
The increasing use of AI technology has raised environmental concerns, particularly about e-waste containing lead, mercury, and cadmium, which may pollute land and water and harm humans and the environment.
The World Economic Forum predicts that e-waste creation will surpass 120 million metric tons by 2050. E-waste management and recycling are essential to decreasing environmental harm and dangerous emissions. Secure processing and recycling AI-related electronic trash requires more stringent rules and ethical disposal procedures to reduce environmental impact.
AI applications like driverless vehicles and delivery drones may harm ecosystems. In industries like e-commerce, where rapid delivery is common, AI-enabled automation may increase consumption and waste.
Inequality Might Get Worse
The IMF also warned that AI might increase economic inequality by lowering wages' share of national revenue, the report indicated. It also warned of tech juggernauts consolidating their market dominance and making disproportionate profits.
The IMF advised increasing corporate and household capital income taxes on capital gains and dividends rather than taxing AI investments directly. The research suggested taxing excess earnings to combat profit shifting and other tax strategies that have squeezed corporate tax receipts in numerous countries.
Era Dabla-Norris, deputy director of the IMF's fiscal affairs department and study co-author, noted that AI may save money and generate income, but also threatens white-collar and blue-collar jobs. AI-related disruptions threaten 60% of employment in industrialized economies, including the US and UK, according to the paper.
The IMF report suggested extending unemployment insurance to self-employed AI-affected individuals, targeting social benefits to those permanently displaced by AI-related job losses, and reforming education and training to equip workers with new technology skills.
The agency's report also suggested utilizing AI's analytical power to upgrade tax systems and introduce real-time market-value property taxes. It warned of the budgetary consequences of universal basic income (UBI) and the costs of unconditionally distributing state stipends to all working-age people, including higher-income groups.
Dabla-Norris said that if AI disruptions escalate, governments may need to design and adopt UBI systems to address social repercussions.
The IMF's report comes after Pope Francis delivered a message on AI's challenges and potential at the recent Group of Seven special session. The first pope to attend the G7 offered an ethical viewpoint on a problem gaining significance in international summits, government programs, and business strategy, as TechTimes previously reported.
The pontiff warned against a world where robots make decisions for people. He emphasized that humans must control artificial intelligence systems to protect human dignity.
Pope Francis' concerns were reflected in the G7 summit conclusions. Leaders promised to coordinate AI governance and legislation to keep them "human-centered." They are committed to fostering an inclusive, people-centered digital revolution that elevates economic growth and sustainable development.
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