Giving the general public the use of artificial intelligence (AI) this early in its development is one of the greatest mistakes we have made as a society. While AI is one of the biggest leaps of technological advancements our generation has seen in a long time, the costs that AI brings are not worth it.
Those costs are the societal and environmental damages that AI brings. Here are some of them that we are seeing already despite how new AI is.
ENVIRONMENTAL
The impact generative AI has on the environment is all around bad with there not really being any regulations on it. Generative AI refers to deep-learning models that are able to generate high-quality text, images and other content based on what they were trained on, according to IBM.
For AI models like ChatGPT, Grok and Claude to function, they draw upon a massive amount of energy, leading to a large output of carbon dioxide into the air and putting strain onto the electrical grid. Furthermore, these generative AI models require a large amount of water to cool the hardware, enabling these AI models to run. This puts pressure on municipal water supplies and disrupts local ecosystems, according to MIT News.
A great example of the danger of generative AI is what’s going on in Memphis, Tennessee, with Elon Musk’s supercomputer used to power his company, xAI. Musk is facing push back from community members due to the water strain and pollutants xAI is putting in the surrounding community.
The 35 methane gas turbines that are used to power the supercomputer are also not equipped with pollutant controls. Due to the lack of pollutant controls, the turbines spew smog-producing nitrogen oxides making xAI the largest emitters of smog-producing nitrogen oxides in Shelby County, according to Politico.
SOCIETAL
You may not realize it, but AI is being used in nearly every facet of your life. Whether it’s the company you applied to using AI to look over your resume, or the health insurance company using it to accept or deny your coverage, AI is everywhere. Without there being any regulations on who can use AI and how, companies and the general public cannot be trusted to ethically use AI.
One such unethical use of AI is the creation of porn, misinformation and straight up plagiarism. The most worrisome thing about AI is the fact it can be used to make lewd and inappropriate material of anyone. Bobbi Althoff, a podcaster had people online make deepfaked porn of her without her consent. People using AI to make porn of you can happen to anyone, even children.
If misinformation is the fire, AI is the gasoline used to spread and amplify said misinformation. As of now, with anyone being able to create and spread fake videos and photos online, AI is a massive threat to the truth. AI is also getting better by the second, making it harder to distinguish real from fake.
For example, with the upcoming midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election, you can only imagine the amount of believable fake content and misinformation people will be able to create. With average people having the ability to deceive and sway voters, it’s a scary reality.
With how new AI is and without the proper laws, regulations and education on how to use AI properly, we as a society can’t be trusted to use it yet.
The reality is that AI is here to stay and will become a bigger part of our lives. The least we can do as a society is acknowledge the harm it can do and try to prevent it.
