AI: more good or more bad?
This post was written by a student. It has not been fact checked or edited.
AI is celebrated for its efficiency and innovation, but beneath that is a growing crisis. The development of AI is contributing massively to destruction of the environment, economic instability, and risks to young people's cognitive and social development. While these problems are often overlooked, they require our urgent attention.
Environmental Footprint
One of the biggest impacts of AI is its large environmental footprint. AI requires so much power to function, leading to skyrocketing energy consumption. It was reported that OpenAI's GPT-3 model required 1,287 megawatt-hours of electricity to train, emitting over 550 metric tons of CO2 - the equivalent of driving 120 gas-powered cars for a year. As AI continues to advance, the demand for data centres continue to grow, and so there will be a bigger reliance on fossil fuels. This completely goes against global sustainability goals, silently but significantly contributing to climate change.
Economic Instability
Beyond environmental impacts, AI is altering economies in ways that create inequalities. AI threatens millions of jobs, particularly in industries which rely on repetitive tasks. The World Economic Forum predicts that AI could replace 85 million jobs by 2025, affecting low-income workers. While AI does create new opportunities, this is not sustainable at the current pace of the world, and so many people will be left unemployed without the chance of finding a new occupation.
Impact on Youth Development
AI's presence in young people's lives is another big issue. As AI dominates social media, it can be used to manipulate attention spans and promote addictive behaviours. AI can replace human connection, and not in a good way - a 2023 study found that 40% of young people aged 18-24 have used AI chatbots to discuss their feelings due to loneliness. While this may help them in the short-term, young people may form an emotional dependence on technology instead of creating genuine human connections. This cannot be helpful as people with excessive screen time tend to have higher rates of anxiety and depression, which AI can contribute to if used for this particular purpose.
On one hand, AI has so much potential for innovation and efficiency, but we cannot ignore the environmental cost of energy consumption, the economic disruption and mass job loss, and the growing dependence of young people on AI, not only emotionally but academically too. If AI can be developed with sustainability in mind, it can help us in the long run.
Ultimately, the question is not whether AI can benefit us, but how we choose to use it responsibly.
Comments (24)
AI is more bad than good as people can cheat in life ,and I know that people will not develop as much because the paths people take are easier than the past. Also if people are creating anti ai technology that proves that ai is a step in the wrong direction.
Hi @ambitious_singer, you make a really interesting point that 'people will not develop as much because the paths people take are easier than the past'. Can you explain your reasoning for this in more detail?
AI is the next step to develop humanity. the software used automate tasks humans cannot or will not do. I think the bad of ai can and is minimised; the help this new investment in technology improves the quality of life for all!
Can you explain a bit more about how you think the bad of AI is minimised?
I agree because I think that AI could also be used very well in the medical industry for AI robotic surgergys in the future and the only way to get there now is for AI to be invested in
In actuality AI at the moment is a mix of good and bad, as it is currently always improveing constantly being updated and growing smarter. Obviously this needs human input to take place creating new jobs and new opportunitys for people who have a passion for computers / computer science.
However as AI becomes smarter it can be adapted to a wider range of jobs / tasks which means more and more human jobs are being done by AI and robots. For example I remember watching a doccumentry where a toothpaste factory had replaced a human puting the lid on the tube of toothpaste with a robotic "worker" which was a robotic arm powerd by AI specificly adapted to its job.
It realy depends how you view it, however at the moment AI is not replacing humans at fast a enough rate to do more bad than good and it depends how we develope it from now onwards which will determine this.
I think that at this point ai is better for us since it benefits and has good potential.Ai helps with speeding up processes with in society such as increasing efficency in the workplaces or improving decsion making.Also Ai can help identify and solve problems by finding patterns that humans may not be able to see or solve on their own.But we cannot forget about the cost of energy consumption.
I disagree because although AI can be extremely helpful towards this generation, it is more harmful in my opinion. AI produces almost 8 tons of CO2 gases a year, which can be very harmful and destructive towards our Earth. In my 6th grade earth science class, we learnt that a buildup of these gases can have multiple unavoidable effects as in increased hurricane intensity, sea level rising, ocean acidification, higher risks of illnesses or deaths. CO2 as high levels can cause people to acquire rapid breathing, elevated blood pressure, headaches, and if too extreme, it can cause death. Not only this but since AI is a revolutionary gadget that is used by almost every field of work nowadays, people might soon rely on AI too much and let it do their job fully. We have to remember that AI was created to help assist us, not take over. Prime examples of this can be doctors using it to diagnose patients, scientists using it to predict natural disasters, and even students using it to do their work. Students are apart of the next generation that will decide if our country will improve in products, literacy, and etc. If these student’s education aren’t being taken seriously, it can cause detrimental outcomes as in our economy not advancing as our future doctors and lawyers don’t even know what they’re doing as they only use AI for their work instead of their prior knowledge. This can decrease the literacy rate, which will decrease the employment rate, which will ultimately decrease the chances of our country progressing and become a better version.
I disagree with you because Ai is not that powerful and will not take us over. There is also not enough evidence and not possible that Ai will cause that much harm and kill us. Further down the line I think that we will find a healthier way of using Ai.
Good day! I disagree when you say that there isn't enough evidence before, I started the reasoning as well as evidence on why AI will one day become powerful enough to overthrow us. I say this because in 2025, AI is already such a revolutionary and powerful tool used by many fields of work as in science, research, medical stuff, etc. Not only this but, AI has gone to a point where it is very clever, that it already has taken the jobs of many waitresses or janitors. I've seen countless videos and shops where a robot was doing the job of a waiter or cleaner instead of a human. If AI keeps advancing, it may just be able to take important jobs as in scientists or doctors. Some of them already use AI to help them with their work anyways. Scientists use it to predict natural disasters, doctors use it to diagnose patients, what if they soon find it easier to just hand the job to these AI robots? All of this has proven that there is more than enough evidence that it may be possible for AI to overtake us one day if it keeps advancing.
I disagree because AI is not that powerful and will not take over us. There is also not enough evidence and not possible that ai will cause that much harm and kill us. Further down the line i think that we will find a healthier way of AI.
I disagree with you because I personally think that Ai at the moment is doing more good then bad as we can learn a lot of stuff with Ai and it is not possible for Co2 levels to be that high as it is in the air. Each day we are finding more things what can boost our sustainability and will eventually save our planet, also Ai can find us better ways to save our planet.
Good day insightful_independence! I'm sad to inform you that Co2 levels CAN be that high as it has been proven by multiple studies conducted by scientists all over the world. According to Google, training just a single AI model can emit as much carbon dioxide as five cars over a lifetime, which in other terms, is equivalent to 626,000 pounds of these harmful gases. These gases cannot only cause harm to us, but as well as our planet. A buildup of this can cause irreversible damages as in Biodiversity loss, which is overuse of pesticides. Not only this but it can cause a major environmental footprint as millions of animals are losing their homes and habitats, which can lead to extinction of many known and loved species. This is because increased Co2 levels can cause extreme heat waves, opposing a threat to animals who are more used to cold weather, rising sea levels, flooding, and intense hurricanes. All of this combined is very dangerous and if we don't find ways to stop it as in using more renewable sources like solar power or anything of that nature, our Earth could be in huge trouble. I also advise you to do a bit more research on the topic beforehand just so you know the facts.
I disagree because you are bringing no evidence to support your claim. You have comited the fallacy called argument of ignorance. There are also other things influencing the earth not only AI. This argument you have presented is you apealing to your emotions while bringing no evidence. AI has recently been created in the future there will be a better approach to AI soon. AI has helped people economicaly by allowing them to sell digital items online. There also machines to detect AI work so your point is invalid.
Yes, but if you read my comment, I clearly only mentioned the amount for CO2 gases that AI is emitting, nothing about the other things that are contributing to the Earth. I also have provided evidence. Beforehand, I did research on what AI is doing to harm the planet on reliable sites. The argument I presented is not appealing to my emotions as it is only factual statistics provided by scientists and researchers. Again, I still claim that AI is harmful to the planet because:
Energy consumption: AI requires a large amount of energy, which usually comes from fossil fuels, which is a nonrenewable source.
Water consumption: Like I previously mentioned, energy consumption leads to water consumption as AI data centers need large amounts of water to cool down their systems. This can be negative as it will limit the amount of water used in other scarce areas that need it more.
Carbon emissions: AI relies on computing data centers. Those data centres consume a vast amount of electricity and require tons of water to cool the system when it overheats. Not only this but, AI also uses fossil fuel, which will emit tons of carbon gases into the air, which will be detrimental to everyone.
I said that AI is more so on the not as beneficial side. And I 100% agree with the end of your statement when you said "But we cannot forget about how the cost of energy consumption". In my post I also talked about something like this because millions of tons of electrical waste is being produced and there is nowhere to put it.
I think that AI may have both pros and cons .at some point AI is time saving and is very helpful even it helped the world for improving efficiency, fostering innovations, minimising errors and it even provide solution to resolve global warming . But at times AI may have Harmful Effects as it may develop destructive behaviours even Ai lacked the characteristics of creativity and it even can be hacked and can be used against the people even after some time it would lead to unemployment of people and even it can make human lazy
Hi! I think that you have provided some very good examples here on the pros and cons of AI. Do you think that there AI will lead to unemployment of everyone eventually, or do you think that there are some jobs which could never be replaced by AI?
Whilst, yes, there are many negative effects of AI that effect people of all ages, races, all around the globe, I still believe that AI is a resource that can be positively used into shaping a brighter future. This is because AI systems are saving lives, organising essential information, and shaping futures even as I type this comment. AI is utilised in professions such as a forest ranger, a medical practitioner, a banker, a scientist, and more. This shows how crucial AI has become to our modern-day system, affecting our (climate) research, healthcare and financial maintenance in a very positive way. I am not, however, neglecting the fact that AI has many issues, but instead, I believe that if the use of AI is prioritized to professions that need them to do their jobs, the climate impact would be decreased. And, with the aforementioned impact on youth development, a solution could be to set up/support charities assisting youth mental health, especially a charity that would educate about the dangers of overusing AI.
In my opinion, AI is more goodthan bad, due to its ability to process large quantities of data, automate tasks, and improve efficency across arious industries. Some key points are...
1.Productivity and Automatation: AI can perform repetitive tasks in a very quick and efficent way, reducing operational costs and allowing humans to foccus on more creative and strategic tasks. In manufacturing AI powered robots have increased production and reduced human errors.
2.Data analysis and Predictions: AI algorithms can analyze large quantities of data in seconds and detect patterens and errors that humans might not detect. In medicine, AI helps with the diagnose of diseases like cancer, in a more precise way than some specialists.
3.Accesibility and Personalization: Virtual assistants and recomendation systems personalize people experiences on platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Spotify improving customer satisfaction.
4.Security and Fraud detection: In the financial sector, AI is used to identify suspicious transactions in realtime, reducing banking and cyber fraud.
Meanwhile AI has challenges its positive impacts, are over the negative impacts when used carefully, ethically and regulated in a proper way.
Great ideals serious_dove - can you explain the negative impacts of AI?
Hello Eva, AI also has some negative impacts that must be considered, and regulated to minimize risks. Some of the main challenges we need to face to make the best version of AI are the next ones.
1.Job displacement: A problem that AI has brought its the job displacement, because the AI automatation has replaced jobs such as manufacturing or customer services. According to a world economic forum report, AI could eliminate millions of jobs in the next decade, although it will also create new oportunities.
2.Bias and Discrimination: Al algorithms can represent and amplify biases, in the data they were programed on. This has led to issues in facial recognition programs, and in hiring processes, were some groups have been discriminated against.
3.Privacy and Security: The widespread use of Al to collect and analyze personal data poses serious privacy risks. Companies and goverments can use this technologies for mass surveillance, exposing to danger fundamental rights.
4.Disinformation and Manipulation: Al ha made it easier to create false content, such as deepfakes and fakenews, wich can influence public opinion, political stability and trust information.
5.technological dependence and Control: As more processes rely on Al, there is a risk of failure in critical systems. In addition, the cncentration of this technologies in a few companies creates inequality in access and control of Al.
While Al offers significant benefits, is crucial, we solve this problems through regulation, control and ethical approaches to prevent long-term negative consequences.
It’s no denying that AI is a very prominent and powerful tool in this generation. It’s used by millions of people all around the world for different uses. It can be used by doctors, scientists, students, and many other fields. However, although this may be true, we have to take into consideration the negative impact that it is also causing. AI is harming both our Earth and people. If we don’t find a way to make it sustainable yet still helpful to all, the after effect could be very detrimental to everyone.
First, according to research, AI emits almost 8.4 tons of CO2 each year. Not only this, but AI is a very advanced mechanism that is programmed to use water to cool down the system when it is asked a question. This can lead to overuse of water consumption. Overall, AI will cause a major environmental footprint, opposing a threat to us.
Secondly, like I said earlier, AI is very high developed and revolutionary. It already can do the simple task of being a waiter or a cleaner. If it keeps advancing in its technology, it’ll be taking the jobs of doctors and scientists in a blink of an eye.
Not only this but, AI is also used by students to do their class work. This can be very harmful for the student since if he or she continues to use this technology to do all of their work, they will gain no knowledge of the subject and soon lack basic tools needed in life. Countries will soon regress and there will be no progress as the future doctors and lawyers of future generations are too busy using AI on their work. Every field will be inexperienced, damaging the country and economy.
inspiring_moth, your thought-provoking analysis has sparked a crucial debate. As I weigh the pros and cons, I believe AI is a double-edged sword. On one hand, AI has the potential to revolutionize industries, improve healthcare, and enhance our daily lives. On the other hand, its environmental footprint, job displacement, and impact on youth development are pressing concerns.
However, I firmly believe that AI's benefits can outweigh its drawbacks if we prioritize responsible innovation. By acknowledging the risks and actively working to mitigate them, we can harness AI's power to create a more sustainable, equitable, and compassionate world.
So, is AI more good or more bad? I'd say it's more nuanced. AI is a tool, and its impact depends on how we choose to wield it. Let's strive to create an AI ecosystem that prioritizes human well-being, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility. By doing so, we can unlock AI's full potential and create a brighter future for all.
AI can be both helpful and harmful for us. On one hand, it offers quick answers and new ways to learn. However, relying too much on AI can stop us from learning to think for ourselves and solve problems on our own. Additionally, it doesn’t push us to our strongest ability. It's also not fair because not all of us have the same access to technology.
Using AI also brings up worries about keeping our information private and safe. And, if we use AI too much, we might not get the help and support we need from our teachers. It's important to use AI carefully and make sure we still learn the important things in school.
I believe AI is a good thing. AI's potential benefits are vast and span numerous fields. It's a powerful tool with the capacity to significantly improve various aspects of human life:
-AI is revolutionizing healthcare through faster and more accurate diagnoses, personalized medicine tailored to individual genetic profiles, robotic surgery with enhanced precision, and the development of new drugs and treatments.
-AI accelerates scientific discovery by processing and analyzing massive datasets far beyond human capabilities. This leads to breakthroughs in fields like genomics. AI can identify patterns, make predictions, and design experiments.
-AI powered assistive technologies enhance the lives of people with disabilities. This includes technology for improved ability, communication, and daily living assistance. AI can translate languages in real-time, provide personalized learning experiences, and create more inclusive environments.
-AI enhances safety and security through fraud detection. AI algorithms can be used to identify potential threats.
-AI automates repetitive tasks, boosting productivity and efficiency across various industries. This leads to economic growth.
Good summary of some of the benefits of AI. Do you think there are any disadvantages of using AI?
AI is not beneficial to us in many ways. It can do things such as making us lazy, causing us to harm ourselves, and much more. For example there was an instance where a teenage boy used an AI app to talk to an AI bot that he became addicted to. At one point he asked the AI something and it told him to commit suicide and he did. That is extremely harmful! It can also do things to manipulate you into feeling different kinds of ways, such as making you fall into depression, and can also prevent human interaction. For example, if you would wanna stay in your room all day scrolling on TikTok or Instagram, it prevents you from going out to try new things or even doing something as small as to go outside and get a breath of oxygen. As it can cause many problems to humans it can do the same to earth. Millions of tonnes of electronic waste will be produced within the next 5 years. And with that, where can we put it? Definitely not on our land fields that's gonna cause a lot of damage to earth.
Can you think of some positives of using AI?
I think that AI is more harmful than beneficial because it is only good to use AI for certain things like work and homework . For example now there are now AI apps that helps you or tell you answers which is cheating. I think before using the app they need a email, phone number, and ID. And sometimes AI can be wrong. Yep it is informed in a lot of things but that does not necessarily mean they'e right all the time. Also one thing that I surely believe is that AI can switch up on you easily. Like robots I'm sure they know what violence is and may turn there backs on you. Also you can't control what robots do especially when there capable in a lot of things. Yeah Ai is helpful but it can get harmful and this is why I think AI is more harmful then beneficial.
I think AI is more good than bad. Personally, I believe it is a very effective way of speeding up process that may be time consuming which betters the workforce and it allows us as a human race to enhance our abilities and improves decision making and development. I feel like without it, the research and development regarding medicine would slow down, setting us back perhaps months even years which is not good.
We must think, how can AI shape the future? Perhaps it will improve certain industries such as healthcare and customer service. Eventually, this will lead to less deaths and overall the future will be a safer and people would be able to live in much healthier conditions.
However like anything good, there are a few drawbacks to AI. In my opinion one is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. This is due to the fact this worsens global warming and hence leading to climate change become a much more serious problem as a whole.
There can also be a range of information being spread regarding representation and real events which is not true. As a result, there can be controversy regarding certain topics which may be false and there may be negative criticism and comments made online towards someone due to misinformation.
I don’t think AI was made for a bad reason, yet I strongly believe that we shouldn’t ignore the facts about the downsides and flaws of AI.
Ai is more bad than good in the past ai couldn't do much and still required a lot resources which made it really unreliable but now ai is capable of many things like generating images or solving a problem but also takes recources too but it comes a cost serious enviromental changes that effect everybody including wildlife and humans. As i said ai needs resources to keep working and The people that work on keeping the computers stable use a hybrid liquid known as the direct-to-chip cooling.
Ai harms the enviroment and causes the release of a lot of green house gases that are harmful to the enviroment and leads to global warming which also leads to forest fires which again leads to more greenhouse gases
. Ai is good and bad but i think it is more bad than good.
AI is more bad than good because, AI is just a shortcut for life. Basically to make your life easier but also limits your knowledge. Most of the time people think AI gives them the correct answer, but not all the time. AI isn't always as accurate as you would think. If you ask AI a simple question, it'll give you this long saying. AI is a negative impact on people around the globe, use AI wisely.
AI is more good than bad because if it wasn't for AI then we wouldn't know much about medicine. Due to this, it has contributed to the saving of many lives. Of course, it has contributed more than just medicine. History, science, education, and many other things. These things have helped humanity evolve for the better and allow them to predict what might happen, helping people evacuate from danger, and saving their lives.
Interesting points! Can you explain how AI has contributed to the field of medicine?
I feel like ai does way more bad than good. First Ai can be used to create art that takes from other artists without giving them recognition. Although some may argue that Ai can be used in computer parts like gpus to improve performance and while that is a good thing there are many more bad things that Ai does. For example, for every chat gpt search 16 ounces (2.96 centiliters) of water being used because most ai servers use water coolers since it is a CPU heavy task.
I think that if it is good or bad depends on how peolpe use it and for what finality it is used. Using it for making daily life activities easier is bad because it would make people less resolutive and will make future generations less developed, lazier and solving problems will be more complicated as people will not know how to use their resources because previous generations used AI for everything without thinking on their own. If we think that AI can solve everything we are not going to continue learning or to increase our knowledge, what we are going to achieve is not knowing how to act by our own means and we are going to depend on AI. Also, if one day AI stops working or cannot be more developed we won't know how to go on with aour daily life activities or aour school homework.
on the contrary, if people use AI for good achievements we will be able to make the world better and to life hand in hand with artificial intelligence without depending on it.
Humans decide how to go on in life and how to use every resource created by them.
In my opinion I think Ai is bad I think that because people will become lazy and AI will take over most of the job. AI also led to Carbon dioxide, in 5 years there will be 40 percent of Carbon dioxide in the earth and hurting the earth atmosphere. Sometimes the AI overheats and we use water to cool it down and it takes a lot of water to cool it down making less water on the earth. AI can sometimes take over us and if we rely on AI too much it can stop us from learning. AI can be good depending on how you use it. I still think AI is bad for the earth. I learned a lot today.
AI is both bad and good, AI can be useful in many ways like, if you want to search up what kind of dog breed you have or if you can start to drive at the age of 15. AI can be very very helpful if you are trying to figure out a new recipe. AI is very useful in so many ways but they can also be bad in many ways.
AI is bad because AI can tell you false information about anything you are researching. AI can also make you think a certain way about the things that AI is telling you about. AI can take you into a different path in life and they can lead you into doing wrong stuff. And that is how I feel about AI and how it is both good and bad.
Good points, how can we overcome the problem about AI and false information? What have you learned about fake news and what tools can young people to to identify it?
My opinnion is, that, AI is better for young students IF used correctly. What do I imply here?. I imply that, if used correctly AI, can prove very useful for making learning processes more efficent and easier to understand for people that might have difficulties with certain topics or workloads in the case of people who have jobs that require AI assistance.
Nontheless, its necessary to state, that the overuse of AI can lead to such things as dependency, this, seen more often in younger people, whom, in many cases use AI to either help them with their work (homework or workloads) or do it for them completely, which, doesnt allow for their proper development.
In conclusion, AI, offers good things and bad things, but in the present, it still has a lot of room for improvement, so it cant be decided properly yet, while I personally think AI offers more good than bad to our current world and society, its negligent to turn a blind eye to the clear disadvantages it has.
Great points romantic_radio, how do we encourage young people to use AI responsibly?
I think AI is more good because of it's many uses but websites and many other thing will have many problems with it so although it does have it's down sides I would say it is good because of it very good uses
Ai (artificial intelligence) can have both a mix of good and bad when you look from different points of views. In the positive sides of Ai provides numerous benefits such as being able to reduce human errors, time saving capabilities, digital assistance and very unbiased answers. However the negatives are emotional intelligence, encouraging human laziness and a lot of job displacements. There can be also a lot of high costs towards making and using Ai. The story of Ai is filled with loads of ethical failings: with privacy breaches and with Ai decision-making that can not be challenged. It is therefore extremely important to identify and mitigate ethical risks while Ai being designed and developed and on a on-going basis once it is used.
Thank you for reading.
I agree because your point in highlighting the present. We can't tell AI is too bad, as it is helpful to predict great issues like climate change and natural disasters. Nowadays cutting of trees, is mostly to make papers. But, AI is decreasing the use of more papers and cutting of trees into a neat document or file, which is so innovative. It provides solutions to extraordinary problems. On the other side, AI is some what bad because it drinks up a lot of energy, it depleats natural resources, it leads to addiction. So , it's a topic, in which , we can't decide,AI is goo