Artificial Intelligence has changed the world, while it has always been present within the technology we use daily, recent investment into improving this technology has turned it into a buzzword. Garnering questions about ethics, the environmental impact, and its effect on policy and politics; society has entered a new era in terms of innovation.
College students everywhere are feeling this impact. Some are choosing to embrace it while others are weary of its effects on creativity, original work, and self-expression. During my research into the effects of AI on college students, I talked to Adam Judice, an English and Geography major who is part of a group of students who are against AI.
“Some of the peers that I’m around view it as a suppressor of creativity. As in AI is kind of taking too much control over the ideas that a student might have and the way that a student might express those ideas […]” said Judice.
Judice also mentioned the formulaic format that AI usually writes in when giving you a response, “It’s very structurally predictable. It likes its list.”
Seeing as AI could potentially hurt creativity and lead young people to put less work into assignments in favor of getting a task done quicker, there is an environmental cost as well.
According to Earth.org, Open AI’s ChatGpt produces 8.4 tons of carbon dioxide per year. To put that into perspective that is twice the amount of the average human being and three times more than the average oil-using car puts out. Carbon emissions into Earth’s atmosphere can lead to extreme weather through the Greenhouse Gas Effect. The Greenhouse Gas Effect refers to carbon, among other gases, getting trapped in Earth’s atmosphere absorbing heat from the sun trapping it in and in turn heating the planet. This effect can cause climate issues like severe weather, droughts, and decreased water sources which lead to drastic economic effects.
Weather and increased heat are not the only effects that come from AI data centers, health issues can harm people who live near places where coal is mined to power these centers. Earth.org reports that to run data centers, coal or natural gas is needed to put out the amount of power it takes to run AI programs and account for all of the people that use them daily. Thus, coal is extracted from developing countries to gain this power source. When coal is burned it releases PM 2.5, a type of particulate matter that when inhaled can lead to respiratory issues and increased death (National Institute of Health).
With all that said there is a positive attribute to the development of AI.
“Generative AI systems that help us synthesize data and gain new insight into environmental questions is a powerful, positive thing. It may lead to mechanisms for understanding the ocean,”
said Mark Benfield, professor of oceanography. In learning more about the ocean, Earth’s biggest carbon sink, scientists may be able to deduce feasible methods to reduce the impact of carbon on the environment or lower the amount of carbon oceans take in.
With all this said it can be overwhelming to receive this information and not be sure if there is anything to do to solve this at all. However, there have been discussions within academia about ways to possibly remove carbon from the atmosphere after it has been admitted.
“There’s been a lot of interest in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere so after we admit the carbon dioxide, how can we capture it? There are a lot of options for that. A lot of them are energy intensive as well, so it’s a possibility but it is going to take some more technological development I think before it can be feasible,” said Brian Snyder, the associate professor of Environmental Science at LSU.
On the individual level, cutting down the usage of AI programs and educating yourself is a prominent first step in decreasing carbon emissions, even if it is on a small scale.
“In general, learning about these issues is the first step, so take a class in environmental science or read a reputable source or news organization that puts out [content] on this type of stuff. […] The first step, I think, is getting educated,” said Snyder.
AI is here to stay within our society, but how we use and interact with these programs is up to us. It’s important to use technology in moderation and not cut corners to get a quicker result. AI can make our lives easier but without considering or discussing the cost we could do more harm to humanity than good.
