How bad is AI really?
My newsfeed on LinkedIn is absolutely full of posts about AI. I wouldn’t mind if they shared interesting information on the topic and useful things to do with it, but they all say the same thing:
- You can tell a post has been written using AI because it uses em dashes
- Don’t use AI because it’s really bad for the environment
Em dashes are common in AI posts but that’s because they are a widely-used punctuation mark in the US.
As for the environment, well yes, AI definitely has an impact and it’s one we should be mindful of. It generates carbon and uses water. With all of us using it, the number of searches a day adds up pretty quickly.
But how bad is AI, environmentally, really?
My friend Alice Jennings has been studying AI for a few months and decided she really ought to know the answer.
What she discovered shocked her. But not in the way you might think. I now feel guilty about watching Netflix.
You can see why by using her brilliant AI vs the Real World calculator.
As with everything, it’s all about moderation.
If you are interested in some of the reasons why I do think AI is risky, here are some of my previous articles about it.
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