6) Consideration of the Environmental Impacts of AI
As the use of generative AI expands, electricity and water consumption
for operating data centers, as well as resource use for producing
semiconductors for AI, continue to increase. Accordingly, generative AI
should be used in ways that minimize negative environmental impacts.
① Unnecessary interactions—such as courtesy messages—or requests
for energy-intensive image, audio, or video processing should be
avoided.
② Where the same materials are frequently requested, unnecessary
repeated requests should be minimized by reusing generated outputs
and sharing results among members of the organization.
③ For tasks that can be handled without generative AI, other appropriate
alternative tools should be prioritized.
④ Where possible, lightweight AI models should be used.
⑤ Preference should be given to products and services offered by
companies that implement environmentally responsible policies, such
as disclosing information on the environmental impact of data centers
used for AI operations (including energy consumption and efficiency),
conducting environmental impact assessments, and using renewable
energy sources.
As discussed above, the development and operation of generative
AI require enormous computational resources and energy. For
this reason, considering the environmental impact of generative
AI use is also an important human-rights-based practice. Civil
society organizations have raised various demands to mitigate the
Generative AI Guide for Civil Society