FLO Friday: Climate Conscious AI Use - Wrestling with Environmental Impacts

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

Facilitator: Emily Simpson

This session will be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca after the event. By participating in this session, you acknowledge that your participation in this session will be recorded and the recording will be made available openly.

Click "Register" to sign up for this webinar.