FLO Friday: Climate Conscious AI Use (Feb 7, 2025) Facilitator: Emily Simpson Host: Helena Prins
This workshop provides a space to pause and reflect on an important ethical concern in generative artificial intelligence (GenAI): its environmental impacts and overall sustainability. What actions, if any, can we take as individual users? What can we do as institutions? We will start by reviewing the environmental costs associated with training and using GenAI tools and explore how these tools might be used to positively reduce climate impacts on a large scale. We will then explore a decision-making framework focused on sustainable AI use. Through guided questions, you will begin to develop a living philosophy for mindful AI use aligned with your environmental values. We will also share practical tips to help minimize carbon and water usage with AI. By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
Describe the environmental implications of GenAI
Explore guiding questions for sustainable AI use
Develop a personalized AI-use philosophy that embodies your environmental values
List practical strategies to reduce carbon and water usage in AI
Attachments: Transcript (PDF, Word), Slides (PDF)
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