Lecture Discussion Questions: The Environment

General Impressions & Interpretations

1. What was memorable to you about the Earth chapter? Any surprises?
2. Explain some of the ways that AI contributes to environmental degradation.
3. On the flip side, can you think of ways that AI might be used to improve environmental outcomes?
4. How does the chapter’s discussion of mining and resource extraction challenge the common perception of AI as a purely “digital” or “immaterial” technology?

Global Inequities

1. How does the extraction of materials for AI technologies perpetuate global inequalities, particularly in countries rich in natural resources but economically disadvantaged?
2. In what ways does the resource extraction for AI reflect historical patterns of colonialism? How does this influence our ethical evaluation of AI?
3. Does AI (and computation more broadly) benefit all countries and societies?

Reducing Harm

1. Should tech companies be held accountable for the environmental and social harms caused by the extraction processes that support AI? If so, how?
2. How can the AI industry innovate to reduce its reliance on nonrenewable resources and decrease its environmental footprint?
3. What might a more sustainable and equitable AI industry look like, and what changes would need to occur in how AI systems are designed, produced, and deployed?
4. How does the lack of public awareness about the material and environmental costs of AI affect societal responsibility toward its development and use?
5. Environmental and resource harms are nothing new, and certainly not unique to AI. What have humans done in the past to protect the environment? Have any of these measures been effective?

Case Studies of Collective Action

As Lawrence Lessig argues (as quoted in the Cory Doctorow talk at DEF CON), there are 4 levers to change the world:

1. law/policy
2. norms
3. markets
4. code

While it’s easy to get in a “nothing really matters” mentality, our individual and collective choices profoundly shape the world, including what we keep doing, stop doing, and start doing.

I’ve pasted a few examples of projects and initiatives that have inspired me. They are the product of many people working together to make the world better:

• Civil Rights: The Children’s March. Southern Poverty Law Center & Collaborators
• Environmental Justice: The impact of the Clean Air Act. Natural Resources Defense Council
• Environmental Justice: How the Endangered Species Act Saved America. Time
• Here’s a list of tech justice related resources compiled by my colleages: Tech Justice Resources & Initiatives
• https://www.dair-institute.org/
• Find some more: what inspires you?