AGRICULTURE QUADRANGLE—Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) has taken over Silicon Valley, social media, and college campuses. Still, its heavy usage remains widely criticized. Though environmentalists typically have a lot to say about the environmental impacts of Gen AI, one E&S Major who uses ChatGPT is just gonna call it even.
Lauren Conner ‘27 is an outspoken Environment & Sustainability student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is also a climate change activist who aims to educate others on environmental issues, stressing the importance of maintaining sustainable habits. Having ChatGPTed her way through ENVS 4400: Nature-Based Climate Solutions? last semester, she feels that she’s already done her part.
Conner cares deeply about sustainable farming practices, maintaining biodiverse ecosystems, and her 3.9 GPA. At least when she uses ChatGPT to write her essays about saving the planet, she argues, her carbon emissions are going towards a good cause.
“I mean, as people always say in my ecology classes, one person doesn’t make a difference,” Conner said, “just like with voting.”
In any case, Connor argues that the use of AI in farming would greatly reduce the work of farmers, a change she attributes to technological advancement, digitization, and a decrease in predictable seasons and arable land.
