OpenAI Strikes Deal With ADNOC to Deploy AI Across Abu Dhabi Energy Operations
OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has agreed to deploy AI across the operations of Abu Dhabi's state energy firm ADNOC. The deal is one of several linking Big Tech and fossil fuels, from Texas gas plants to a 20-year Microsoft-Chevron power contract.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has struck a deal with Abu Dhabi's state energy firm ADNOC to deploy AI across its operations, a sign of how closely tech and oil are now tied for anyone following the WTI oil price today.
The agreement is meant "to deploy advanced AI capabilities across the state energy firm's operations." It marks the latest step in OpenAI's deepening ties with the United Arab Emirates.
A wider push into oil and gas
The ADNOC deal was the highest-profile example in a broader push at the ADIPEC energy conference, where tech companies pitched custom AI tools for drilling rigs, refineries and other oil assets. AI firms are targeting some of the richest customers in the world.
The link runs both ways. Big Tech is planning data centers faster than power grids can keep up, and legislation under the Trump administration has pushed tech companies to supply their own energy for new sites.
Gas contracts pile up
In practice, that has meant large natural gas contracts. Amazon is building a gas-fired power plant in Texas. If its current plan of seven gas plants is completed, it will be the single biggest source of power-related emissions in the United States.
In August, Nvidia said it would partner with Japan's SoftBank and the US federal government to build the country's largest fossil-fuel plant, to power an Ohio project by OpenAI. Microsoft has signed a 20-year deal with Chevron for 2.67 gigawatts of natural-gas-fired power for a proposed West Texas data center.
The AI boom is already driving a natural gas surge in the United States. Experts expect data center operators to extend the life of fossil fuels in the global energy mix, even as clean energy growth keeps setting records.
The emissions argument
AI advocates say the technology will save more energy than it uses through efficiency gains. A recent paper in the journal NPJ Climate Action found the opposite risk: if fossil fuels gain anything above zero from AI, the emissions this enables will exceed the emissions avoided.
Even if fossil fuels and renewables benefit equally, global CO2 emissions would still rise by between 0.47 billion tons and 1.8 billion tons a year. "On the smaller side it's about the emissions of Mexico annually," said Holly Alpine, one of the paper's co-authors.
