Google may be lagging its climate goals, but it is not stopping the tech giant from constructing a new AI-focused data center in fossil fuel-dependent Saudi Arabia.

Saudi's Public Investment fund and Google have announced a new AI hub that will support research into Arab language AI models and "Saudi-specific AI applications." The state-owned petroleum company Aramco says it now uses AI throughout its operations. There, technology has helped increase production by 15% at one oil field.

In 2020 Google said it was ceasing algorithm development for oil and gas production and in 2021 vowed to halve its emissions by the end of the decade. A Google spokesperson told E&E News the new agreement "comports" with what it already promised.

Neither Google nor the Saudi Public Investment fund commented on what "Saudi-specific AI applications" could mean. However, fossil fuels are so central to the Saudi economy that this means AI algorithms running from the data center might just go into oil and gas production.