According to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the impact of generative AI on the environment is still deeply understood, and its human impact is completely unknown.
The latest in several AI technology assessments conducted by GAO is a nonpartisan institution that provides audits and assessments to Congress, executive leaders, and the public – the Legislative Bureau outlined the multiple human and environmental risks posed by the unhindered development and widespread use of technology. “Generative AI can move to workers, spread misinformation, and create or promote risks to national security,” the report reads. Threats to data privacy and cybersecurity, biased use of systems, and lack of accountability can have unintended effects on society, culture and people, GAO writes.
And pushing in is the need to determine how much energy-emitting AI training (and ongoing use) is being evacuated and can be alleviated.
As AI manufacturing grows, the environmental damage of technology will grow too
“The use of training and generation AI can result in substantial energy consumption, carbon emissions and water use,” GAO argues. “The environmental impact of using generator AI has received less attention than the effectiveness of training it… The conclusive statement about these risks and challenges is because generator AI is evolving rapidly and private developers have not disclosed some important technical information.”
Masculine light speed
The lack of data from AI developers is increasingly hampering environmental research, GAO explains, including those designed “for good” that interferes with the evaluation of generated AI and its use cases. Additionally, existing policy actions discovered by GAO may not be able to effectively address the human impact of generational AI.
The Trump administration and the controversial Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk has not eschewed the implementation of artificial intelligence to the federal government, including a new memo focusing on the use of “impact” American-made AI systems. On April 24th, Trump signed an executive order creating the Artificial Intelligence Education Task Force. This will encourage AI adoption between educators and K-12 students.
The AI order follows an earlier executive order that retracted the Biden administration’s commitment to AI surveillance. President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have said they want to maintain the country’s “global control” in artificial intelligence and oppose “overregulation” of technology, and have refused to sign on to international AI agreements, including the recent Paris Summit Declaration on Inclusive AI.
Trump’s anti-climate science agenda has made enhanced progress, including allocations to federal agencies such as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), thanks to the president’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement and cuts in federal science grants and research funding. Meanwhile, Trump tailored (and received funding) some of the biggest AI supporters, including Zai’s Musk and Open’s Sam Altman.
Disclosure: Mashable’s parent company Ziff Davis filed a lawsuit against Openai in April, claiming it infringed Ziff Davis’s copyright in training and operating AI systems.
