Generative AI, Open Education, and Climate Catastrophe

While AI promises to revolutionize many fields, including education, this technology’s unsustainable carbon footprint and other devastating ecological impacts mean that revolutionary progress is far from guaranteed.

In fact, the rapid, widespread adoption of energy and resource-hungry AI invites revolutionary regression. This year’s talk discusses the environmental impacts of generative AI by examining the often hidden ecological

costs of these new tools and asks how we, as open practitioners, can ensure the burgeoning collaboration between AI tools and open education serves learners, teachers, and the environment.