As students across the country sit in class and work through their assignments, the temptation to rely on AI is hard to ignore. When classmates around them copy and paste their work into ChatGPT, it’s easy to feel pressured to do the same. High school-level skills often seem inadequate compared to the endless information available on the internet, creating a sense of unfair competition.
The biggest factor driving this temptation is the pressure students feel to perform well academically. With demanding schedules, extracurriculars, AP classes and part time jobs, students are often left with little time to complete homework and study. AI offers a simple solution: type in a prompt and get an instant response. This convenience is appealing to students who feel overwhelmed or behind in their classes. However, reliance on AI comes with costs, both to learning and the environment.
One major reason students should think twice before turning to AI for schoolwork is the environmental cost that comes with it. Every time a student submits a question or asks AI to generate an essay, they are contributing to a growing environmental crisis. The massive data centers used to process the millions of ChatGPT requests taken in daily are huge contributors to the rising electricity demands in regions around the world. It is estimated that by 2026, energy usage will exceed double the amount consumed in 2022 due to the introduction of new AI, including ChatGPT. To put this in perspective, data centers could soon use as much electricity as the country of Japan, with approximately 120 million people currently residing there.
School systems are overwhelmed with the sudden reliance of students using AI, specifically ChatGPT. Teachers use AI detectors or monitoring sites, such as Securly, in order to limit the use of ChatGPT, yet the issue still remains. Due to how out of control this issue has become, some educators have shifted from trying to ban AI entirely to teaching students how to use it ethically. Many teachers are discovering ChatGPT can be used to tutor students, increase their creativity and enhance students overall skills. Though this may sound beneficial at first, even “ethical” use of AI still contributes to environmental problems. This raises the question: is convenience in education worth the harsh environmental impacts? When students and educators normalize AI reliance, they create a consistent cycle that will be harder to break the more technologically advanced it becomes.
In recent years, global warming’s rate of increase has doubled; we don’t need another growing contributor. According to NASA, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere has increased by 50% in the last 200 years as an outcome of human related activities. The use of AI is included in this percentage. Specifically, 573,000 pounds of carbon dioxide is produced monthly.
In addition to carbon emissions, AI contributes significantly to water consumption, a resource that is already threatened with climate change. Data centers require large amounts of water to cool their servers. For example, training a single large language model can consume over 700,000 liters of freshwater. Data centers are often located in areas with water shortages, including regions in the western United States and parts of Europe. The demand for water to cool AI servers can compete with local communities for limited water supplies.
Given these growing environmental costs, it’s worth asking why AI is so easily accepted in academic settings. Students, educators and policymakers need to consider the long term impacts of normalizing AI use within schools. While it may offer convenience, the long-term consequences outweigh the short-term benefits. Our future leaders should not be relying on a tool that’s quietly destroying our planet.
