ChatGPT has become popular among students who need assistance writing academic papers, resumes and cover letters. However, many are unaware of the negative environmental impact that ChatGPT has on the planet.
ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence virtual assistant that responds to users’ prompts with language that is easy to understand. ChatGPT and other AI applications operate from data centers that use significant amounts of water and energy.
The United Nations Environment Programme reported that data centers produce electronic waste, burn fossil fuels and are on track to consume more water than Denmark, a country with 6 million people. The UNEP also reported that ChatGPT consumes 10 times the energy of one Google search. AI can quickly complete research and synthesize information, making it an attractive tool for college students, but is the convenience worth the cost?
Sean Hunter, a student at Delaware State University, uses ChatGPT to draft his essay outlines. Still, he is rethinking his usage after learning how data centers affect the planet.
“I feel like we are already messing up the environment as needed. AI has helped, but it’s also hurt, and I don’t think the means justifies the end,” Hunter said.
Hunter understands that the environmental effects of ChatGPT will only worsen as more users rely on the application.
“Before, AI was just to assist. Now it’s to do it for you,” Hunter said.
Kristiana Helms, an English major at Florida A&M University, believes there are better alternatives to ChatGPT.
“The only benefit of AI is it presents information in a concise way, it shortens the time it would take for you to research something. I feel like you could just use Google as a search engine, and there are different reliable databases. I think reading for yourself is a better alternative,” Helms said. Helms says that dependency on ChatGPT should not be normalized. “I think it should be used as a last resort anyway, just like when you quickly need to do something, but to predominately use it for every single thing, I feel like that is very unnecessary,” said Helms.
The UNEP recommends that companies that produce AI programs make them more efficient, so they use less energy and encourage them to recycle water and other materials that are not single use.
As more research is done on the effects of AI on the environment, the UNEP will be able to make suggestions that will lessen the way AI damages the planet.