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arXiv · 2507.21102

Assessing the Ecological Impact of AI

Sylvia Wenmackers
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Abstract

Philosophers of technology have recently started paying more attention to the environmental impacts of AI, in particular of large language models (LLMs) and generative AI (genAI) applications. Meanwhile, few developers of AI give concrete estimates of the ecological impact of their models and products, and even when they do so, their analysis is often limited to green house gas emissions of certain stages of AI development or use. The current proposal encourages practically viable analyses of the sustainability aspects of genAI informed by philosophical ideas.

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Sylvia Wenmackers. 2025-07-07. Assessing the Ecological Impact of AI. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21102

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