Abstract:

As the potentials and promises of generative AI sweep into the field of Open Education, educators and advocates have a holistic responsibility to think deeply and expansively about the known and still emerging environmental impacts of these technologies. Demand for energy by the hungry server farms that create so-called artificial intelligence is bringing damaging and dangerous energy practices back from the grave, including the resurrection of previously shuttered coal and nuclear power plants. How can we as Open practitioners reconcile the long standing historical and contemporary violence of coal and nuclear power production with the desire to widely embrace and experiment with generative AI? This talk will review the most recent research on AI energy demands and the environmental impacts, as well as provide a brief history and contextualization of the current issues with nuclear waste, pollution, and accidents in North America, primarily in the United States and Canada. Attendees will be invited to reflect deeply on what we stand to lose and gain with the widespread adoption of generative AI in society, and hopefully leave inspired to mindfully use generative AI, with its current promise and future perils in mind. 

We are hosting an in-person watch party for University of Regina members. Registration is required (see below).

• For online registrants, the Zoom link will be included in the confirmation email.
• For in-person watch party registrants, the location will be included in the confirmation email.