American tech companies have positioned themselves as leading drivers toward a green economy for years, but those goals may be in jeopardy due to a new imperative: winning the artificial intelligence (AI) race. Google and Microsoft — two major tech companies that have set ambitious green goals — both reported increases in their carbon emissions in recent years due in large part to new, power-hungry data centers that are needed to sustain the nascent AI boom. Though these companies have committed to reaching carbon neutrality or negativity by 2030, they appear to be forging ahead with their emi…