Each month, more than 260,000 kg of carbon dioxide are emitted due to ChatGPT usage. According to a Sustainability News article, this massive amount of carbon byproduct is “equivalent to 260 flights between New York and London.” Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which keeps heat inside the atmosphere, therefore contributing to global warming. Such copious quantities of this gas are detrimental to our earth and will eventually leave it in ruins if this continues long enough. Though it may seem like carbon dioxide or ChatGPT is to blame, this issue runs deeper than that. Students must stop overusing AI software for “educational purposes” for the betterment of not only our school system but for our earth as well.
“AI dulls creativity” is something students probably hear all the time. It irks them when parents, teachers or even peers say it to them, so they brush it off. But rather than just rolling their eyes at that statement, if they take just a second to understand it, AI usage would already be rapidly decreasing. The phrase “just ChatGPT it” has become so prevalent that practically every homework assignment sounds like click-clacks on keyboards, with students disregarding the actual material and leaving that to their AI tool. Students are slowly becoming incapable of actually learning and depend on AI assistance for even the most minute tasks. There are millions of high school students throughout the U.S. and according to research from College Board, around 84% of them use AI in some shape or form for school. Although it is almost impossible to avoid ChatGPT entirely in today’s technology-based world, students should try to minimize their usage of AI and begin using their brain power to improve society and the environment.
Many people on social media are quick to criticize plastic straws, private planes and even gasoline-based vehicles, and while these all play a negative role in global warming, we seem to forget the quickest fix: AI. So the next time somebody says “AI is the future,” let’s not forget that if the current trends in AI usage continue, there might not even be a future.
