For The Spearhead’s first Spring edition, I wrote the article “Is That AI?” During the writing process it radicalized my disapproval of our resources being used for synthetic media.

During my interviews with students and teachers, I quickly noticed that my predeveloped opinion of AI wasn’t unique among many students. We agreed the sacrifice of our natural resources for the use of AI was not worth it. According to Earth.Org, an environmental news website, training an AI model takes an estimated five times more emissions than the average fuel consumption of a U.S. manufactured car in a lifetime. 

Seeing generative AI being used at Battle despite the resources we have to create media, Reed Hirsh-Jacobson, a senior I interviewed for my original article, showed me that many students are happy and proud to step up to create material to represent the student body when he introduced a petition he had created to replace synthetic media played during the minute-warning music.  Hirsh-Jacobson estimated he got around 150 signatures.

After witnessing my community come together and speak up about negative effects deriving from AI, it inspired me to dive deeper into the facts of what role AI will have in the future. In 2018, there was a rising concern for AI being incorporated into the workforce and replacing human workers after Open AI released its first ChatGPT model, according to tech industry website Built In, with many companies already incorporating AI such as Duolingo, Turnitin, and Google all being used in schools throughout the U.S.

Large data centers consume millions of gallons of water a day, and a medium-sized data center is able to consume over 100 million gallons of water per year only for cooling purposes according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Only one percent of earth’s freshwater is safe for our consumption and a vital instrument for human survival according to the Environment Protection Agency.

I believe that generative AI is unnecessary. We have the resources to create solutions ourselves. AI is actively taking away necessary resources for plants, animals, and ecosystems’ survival.

Is synthetic media made for entertainment worth our limited resources? No.