Editing an essay? Building a weekly schedule? Need ideas for a Halloween costume? In the age of artificial intelligence, fussing over trivial tasks and questions appears to be a relic of the past. Although AI reduces the stress of a small chore or satisfies the search for inspiration, there comes a price for what seems “too good to be true.”
The dark underbelly of AI is not just the disappearance of middle management jobs and the threat of technology overpowering human intelligence (as dire as that is), but also the erosion of human skills and the acceleration of climate change.Â
The AI utilized by OpenAI, Google Gemini, and Amazon Azure is all housed in facilities, or data centers, across the world. These host locations, in order to power the supercomputers and microchips necessary for AI, consume massive amounts of electricity. According to the International Energy Agency, a single prompt to ChatGPT consumes 10 times more electricity than a Google Search. This electricity is most commonly produced from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), which subsequently release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.Â
For decades, the global population has been told that climate change poses an imminent threat to all life on earth and is actively in effect. The question arises of whether the 5.65 billion internet users on earth (ITU) will allow the appeal of AI to drown out the voices of concerned scientists who emphasize the negative environmental impacts.Â
These impacts are unquestionable, but their long-term effects on human abilities cannot be researched just yet. The downfall of students’ skills in middle and high schools is already felt by many teachers. They blame AI for their students’ unwillingness to learn, even though there is a lack of research on its effect on the brain. However, some educators also believe that it is time to adapt to the incoming technological wave, or risk falling behind.
As an aspiring writer, it is hard to come to terms with the influx of AI-generated content on the internet. To me, writing is an artistic expression reserved for human beings, even if it is that pesky English essay due at midnight or an email that doesn’t require any creativity.Â
And I’m no saint either. I’m not going to deny that I’ve gone to ChatGPT during some pretty desperate times throughout my life, but we should all try to halt our usage of it. Personally, I’m doing this by remembering that humanity quite literally breaches everyone’s everyday actions, whether that’s an attempt to prevent climate change or promote human development.
AI is plain addictive. Just say no.
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