Environmentalism vs. Artificial Intelligence
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Cheyla Ruiz and Briannah Shaw
Artificial intelligence requires water as a computer coolant to perform its programmed duties, meaning fresh water is used every time machine learning algorithms and AI are in use.
Artificial intelligence and other forms of machine learning pose a potential threat to the climate through water usage and fossil fuel emissions. However, there is an argument to be made that those threats can be mitigated and the state of the climate itself improved in time by those same technologies. With the accessibility and use of artificial intelligence on the rise in college campuses across the United States, many institutions are, for the first time, forced to assess the legitimacy of A.I. tools and the extent to which students should be allowed to use them.
On the Rutgers University campus in Camden, there are many contrasting opinions on A.I. use in and out of the classroom. In discussions with Professor Margaret Betz and Professor Austin Rooney of the Philosophy and Religion department, the topic of both potential advantages and disadvantages of A.I. was regarded with apt attention on the environmental effect.
The American public as it stands is lacking a lot of information on the long-term effects artificial intelligence usage could have on the environment. Researchers across multiple institutions argue that artificial intelligence and machine learning may be the very implements needed to find a long-lasting efficient solution to climate change mitigation. However, it’s too early into the mainstream introduction of these tools to see any potential water pollution that may result from usage or negative impact on clean water access. For Professor Margaret Betz these uncertainties are the very thing that should keep us away from frequent artificial intelligence use.
“My understanding is very limited. . . I always think because of my philosophical background I’ve always been kind of suspicious about the claims of technology making our lives easier and better . . . when we’re talking about these advances in our tech, just my general thought is there are unintended consequences that always come out of new technology. The people who are designing them aren’t necessarily philosophers in the sense that they’re thinking about the impact. I always thought of the image of Frankenstein, because it’s the perfect metaphor in the sense that you are unleashing something and there isn’t always this reflective and contemplative engagement with what does it mean to introduce this.”
Professor Betz hits on a worry here that many of us will start to see growing in frequency as these forms of technology become more refined and even more openly available. Is the probable environmental harm enough to outweigh the convenience of having an AI tool create an outline for your upcoming essay, or using ChatGPT to get your math homework done? And if it isn’t just how much can the climate digest before we reach the point of no return?
For Professor Austin Rooney the prospect of a solution to the current climate dilemma, is reason enough to keep an open mind towards artificial intelligence. In a collaborative paper published in October of 2021 on the alignment of artificial intelligence with climate change mitigation efforts, the case was made that AI could in theory produce the very answer we need to our environmental concerns. AI works on the knowledge that is provided to it, but it can expand on that knowledge in ways we cannot fully anticipate once it’s familiar enough with the material. Despite the ostracization of AI and similar algorithms for their use of existing human art and literature to learn, Professor Rooney takes a much more positive outlook on the situation.
“I’m not an insider on AI or a practicing coder, so I couldn’t say about ostracizing. However, in the spirit of the question, I would say that because of the technical nature of AI, I believe many people feel overwhelmed or intimidated by it and simply don’t try to understand it. That general feature of human nature is something to be aware of, and can certainly lead to justifiable fears of a “technocracy”.”
If we can find it within ourselves to take the time to better understand artificial intelligence and supply these algorithms with the correct information, it’s feasible that they could generate a climate change solution that we would not be able to with our limited human knowledge. On that note, it really becomes not a question of environmentalism versus artificial intelligence, but rather whether it’s best to collaborate with or rage against the machine.
WORKS CITED
Dauvergne, Peter. “The Globalization of Artificial Intelligence: Consequences for the Politics of Environmentalism: Globalizations: Vol 18 , No 2 – Get Access.” Taylor & Francis Online, 30 June 2020, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14747731.2020.1785670. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.
Kaack, Lynn H, et al. “Aligning Artificial Intelligence with Climate Change Mitigation.” Accueil – Archive Ouverte HAL, HAL Open Science, 6 Oct. 2021, hal.science/hal-03368037. Accessed 18 Mar. 2025.
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