Consolidation: AI, the Environment, and You
AI has an impact on the environment
With all the excitement around AI, sometimes we forget about the potential negative consequences.
- Training a single large language model can consume as much energy as 100 homes use in a year.
- By 2026, it is estimated that about 6% of all the electricity used in the United States will go to data centres running AI.
- Data centres need a lot of water to keep their computers cool. Fresh water may be pumped in and returned to a stream or lake at a higher temperature.
To minimize the impact of AI on the environment:
- Use models trained for specific tasks wherever possible. They consume less energy than giant general-purpose models. Face ID on your phone has a much smaller footprint than a chatbot.
- Just like water and electricity, don't be wasteful using AI.
Does that mean we shouldn't use AI?
No! In fact, there are ways to use AI that help the environment. After a lightning storm, you can send drones to fly over forests and use AI to analyze the images to locate fires started by lightning, so they can be put out quickly before they spread.
Be thoughtful when you use AI
- When choosing an AI, look up the sustainability efforts of the provider. Are they working to minimize their environmental impact? Ethical companies are transparent about their impact and their efforts.
- Wherever possible, use an AI designed specifically for the task you want to accomplish.
Activity 10: What AI would you create? (4 minutes)
Now that you know how AI works, imagine an AI of your own. Can you come up with a way to use AI for good?
Your answers are saved in this browser only. You can copy or download everything you wrote from the last lesson.
What you learned
Congratulations, you have learned a LOT about AI.
- AI is all around us. You saw lots of different types of AI and examples of AI.
- AI makes predictions based on patterns, but it is not perfect and it can make mistakes. So it is good to have people checking the results!
- We need to be thoughtful about using AI, because we don't want to be wasteful, and because we need to monitor its output in case it makes mistakes.
Activity 11: Build your vocabulary (3 minutes)
Two quick questions, then the full glossary from this course.
Vocabulary check
An AI that sorts photos of waste into "recycling" and "garbage" is doing…
Vocabulary check
A chatbot invents a "fact" that sounds true but is false. That is called a…
Glossary
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- When a computer mimics human intelligence or behaviour.
- Model
- An AI model is a program that has been trained on a set of data to recognize patterns and make decisions or predictions. Each AI tool uses an AI model.
- Regression
- A model that represents a relationship between at least two different variables. The model lets you predict the effect on one variable when you change the other.
- Linear regression
- A regression model that can be drawn as a straight line.
- Classification
- Classification models decide how data should be sorted into groups.
- Object detection
- A model that can detect and locate objects in images or videos.
- Confidence
- A number between 0 and 100 (0 is lowest, 100 is highest) that indicates how likely it is that a prediction made by an AI model is accurate.
- Generative AI
- AI that creates original content such as text, images, music, or video, based on patterns in the data used to teach the AI.
- Large language model (LLM)
- A model that has analyzed vast amounts of text to find patterns so it can generate and respond to human language in a way that mimics natural conversation.
- Hallucination
- When AI generates incorrect, fabricated, or nonsensical information that appears plausible but is not grounded in reality.
Activity 12: Save your workbook
Everything you wrote in this course is saved in this browser only. Copy it or download it now if you want to hand it in, keep it, or continue on another device.
Want to go deeper?
Lesson 6 has optional extension readings. Or explore generative AI hands-on with the What is the role of AI in songwriting? course, where you will use a Songwriter Bot to write lyrics about an Indigenous role model.
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