Speak for the Trees

written by Liv Adao and Josie Hammond

Greetings, tree huggers! Long time no see! We’ve been cooking up a good one for you this week. Since it’s Labor Day, we want to discuss one of the most pressing issues facing the labor force today: you know ‘em, you love ‘em: Mr. ChatGPT, and all his A.I. relatives. In the last few years, A.I. usage has exponentially increased in everyday life, but does anyone really know what exactly is going on behind the scenes? Well, read more to find out . . .

Environmental Impact

When you give a prompt to ChatGPT or any other LLM (Large Language Model), those words are sent off to massive data centers—which are massive buildings filled with stacks of computers like something straight out of The Matrix. These data centers are powered by coal or natural gas plants, and the heat being given off from the computers as they process your prompt is cooled down with fresh water. So, from the moment you type a question into ChatGPT to the moment it spits the answer out, the environment and its resources are being exploited. These data centers are using enormous amounts of energy, emitting more and more carbon into the atmosphere, while simultaneously wasting tons of water to keep these machines cool and running. Therefore, the more complex your question is, the more energy needed to answer, and the more energy needed to answer, the more environmental damage is done. Compared to a regular google search, ChatGPT uses about 10 times more energy to answer. So, the next time you are tempted to ask Chat a question, take a second to think about the environmental impact that follows.

Now, for some of you it may not be realistic or even possible to stop using A.I. completely. However, there are sustainable approaches to using ChatGPT. You can simply ask ChatGPT for a shorter response or clarify that you don’t need a big explanation, saving precious resources. Just remember every word truly does matter. Another sustainable approach to using ChatGPT is using task-specific models. You don’t need an extremely intelligent A.I. to help you with your Algebra 1 homework. There are different levels of intelligence within A.I. models, as the task models get smarter they require more training, aka more electricity and water. So maybe try using a simpler model to help next time. 

Psychological Impact

Increased AI usage also has a personal impact on us as a humanity. What does it do to us when we are constantly and immediately getting answers to all of our questions? What parts of our brains are atrophying when we plug in our assigned reading to ChatGPT to simplify it to us? These are the questions that we’ve been thinking about recently, especially as high school students that are surrounded by A.I. usage at every turn.
To start, of course, let’s hear some words from Mrs. Oliver.

The main danger of increased A.I. usage to humanity is the way it subtly makes us all “lazier.” We have a tool that can do practically anything we want it to, and as humans, we have been abusing that tool. As Cal Newport poignantly puts it in his article on A.I., “Tools that make things easier aren’t always making us better.”

There is scientific evidence that A.I. usage is, quite literally, changing our brain. There was a study done at MIT where groups of students were made to write an essay. The students were separated into three different groups based on what tools the students were allowed to use: ChatGPT, search engines, and nothing but their own brain. 80% of the group that used ChatGPT wasn’t able to remember a single quote they had written in their essay, compared to 10% from the other groups. What’s even scarier is that a few weeks later, the groups were switched, meaning the A.I.-assisted group now had to write an essay on their own. But the same problem with recalling quotes persisted, despite there being no A.I. involved. This reveals a concept called “cognitive debt,” whereby people become so accustomed to not having to do critical thinking when using A.I. that they struggle to use these skills when the time comes. 

Tying this back to our poem of the week, we here at Speak for the Trees believe it is important to constantly be using and improving our critical thinking skills. There is danger in simply accepting everything you’re told, and it’s important, especially in today’s society, to remember to always question what is going on around you. A.I. has become so normalized within our society that most people don’t even realize what it actually entails. These discussions are vital to staying educated and informed about what is going on around us. Staying informed is paramount to creating change in the world, because an uninformed society is an easily manipulated society, willing to comply passively with things even when they’re harming the world. 

There is immense truth in the age-old adage about the importance of the journey over the destination. Having the right answers doesn’t matter nearly as much as how you got them. There is invaluable knowledge and lessons in the struggle of life, and to shortcut that lesson with A.I. is to stifle our own growth, cheapening what it means to learn and be human. 

It would be hypocritical and wrong of us to simply wag our fingers at you, dear reader, and tell you to never use A.I. After all, Mary Oliver herself would point out the importance of nuance. A.I. is an ever-growing part of our society, and can be a tool used for good. But just like any tool, it is up to us on how we choose to wield it. We encourage you to think about what you’re using A.I. for, and recognize that your brain is just as powerful and strong as any old supercomputer, if you choose to use it!

We truly do live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood, but sometimes life isn’t just about arriving at the answer to these mysteries, but the work we put in on the journey of finding some mystical answer. Your homework for this week is to find a mystery that you’ve never understood, and try to solve it all on your own! It’s okay to not find the answer, the journey will teach you enough on its own. Bye Bye!

For you intellectual feins who want to read more…
Cal Newport – Does AI Make Us Lazy?
MIT Study about the effects of A.I. on our brains
CNN – A.I. & Carbon Emissions
MIT – Environmental Impact of Generative A.I.