Neuralwatt, a Seattle-based startup launched by two Microsoft veterans, has released what appears to be the first tool for calculating, in real time, the carbon emissions of individual AI requests — everything from asking a bot to edit a high school essay to deploying an autonomous AI agent for a complex coding assignment.
The co-founders hope the data will unlock more planet-friendly operations and give AI developers something to feel optimistic about, even as public anxiety grows over data centers’ energy, water and utility bill impacts.
There’s a lot of worry that AI requires “a data center in every neighborhood,” said Chad Gibson, Neuralwatt’s co-founder and CEO. While new facilities will be built, he added, existing ones and their energy sources could be used much more efficiently.
The startup estimates that if AI growth continues at its current pace, and with the current approach to energy use, the technology could generate 24 million to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030 — volumes equivalent to adding millions of gas-powered cars to the road.
Neuralwatt aims to help avoid that outcome. The carbon intensity of grid power varies throughout the day and across regions, depending on its source and how much demand there is. The company’s platform captures a carbon intensity snapshot each time an AI function — or “inference,” in tech jargon — runs, giving customers insight into the emissions tied to that specific task.
Just as cloud users have come to expect emissions data linked to their usage, Gibson said companies running AI workloads will soon expect the same. “We believe that is going to be the future.”
The data is increasingly important for companies that will need to comply with Europe’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and for other organizations disclosing the full range of their carbon emissions.
Neuralwatt offers three products, all of which integrate the carbon-impact metrics: Neuralwatt Cloud, which provides AI services from leased data centers with energy-based pricing; Neuralwatt Deploy, which identifies underused data centers for AI customers to tap into; and Neuralwatt Optimize, which lets data center managers subtly adjust operations in real time to improve efficiency.
Its customers include Parasail, an AI inference startup; ZutaCore, which makes chip-cooling technology; and Crusoe Cloud.
Gibson launched Neuralwatt in December 2024 with Scott Chamberlin, who serves as chief technologist. Both spent more than two decades at Microsoft, with Gibson departing in 2019 and Chamberlin in 2022. The two overlapped while working on the company’s now-defunct Zune media player.
After leaving Microsoft, Gibson took an entrepreneurial path, becoming a limited partner at Seattle investment firm Flying Fish and an angel investor with Alliance of Angels. Chamberlin, whose final Microsoft role was sustainability lead for Windows, moved to Intel to lead its green software strategy.
Neuralwatt joined the Climate Collective accelerator in 2025 and received a grant to support its work, then was selected this year for the Plug and Play accelerator. The startup is also part of the Nvidia Inception and Microsoft for Startups programs, which provide access to hardware and services.
Last summer, the company received an undisclosed pre-seed investment from Powerhouse Ventures, Avesta Fund and Remarkable Ventures. The team has four employees and three advisors.
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