This is a strawman argument. AI is a tool. Like any tool, it’s used for negative things and positive things. Focusing on just the negative is disingenuous at best. And focusing on AI’s climate impact while completely ignoring the big picture is asinine (the oil industry knew they were the primary cause of climate change more than 60 years ago).
AI has many positive use-cases yet they are completely ignored by people who lack logic and rationality.
AI is helping physicists speed up experiments into supernovae to better understand the universe.
AI is helping doctors to expedite cancer screening rates.
AI is powering robots that can do the dishes.
AI is also helping to catch illegal fishing, tackle human trafficking, and track diseases.
If you’re complaining about climate impact, looking at the big picture isn’t whataboutism. It’s the biggest part of the dataset which is important for anyone who actually cares about the issue.
You’re complaining about a single cow fart, then when someone points out there are thousands of cars with greater emissions - you cry whataboutism. It’s clear you just want to have a knee-jerk reaction without rationally looking at the problem.