Higher Education’s Inattention to the Environmental Impacts of GenAI

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Sunday 7:45 am
  In Poster Session: Educating for Climate Literacy and Justice: Preparing Teachers, Students, Communities, and Institutions for Sustainable Futures

Abstract

Much of the higher education research on GenAI focuses on questions related to plagiarism, bias, copyright infringement, data security, and privacy. Less attention has been paid to the environmental impacts of GenAI and the role colleges and universities can play in educating stakeholders about GenAI’s substantive carbon footprint, intensive water use, and depletion of rare metals. This paper provides a scoping review of existing literature as well as a review of selected gray literature (i.e., AI policies of AAU institutions) on the topic.

Authors

• Ashley L. Floyd, Florida International University

• Yuly V. Piedrahita Guzman, Florida International University