Sparking Students’ Ecocritical Awareness of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

This lesson encourages learners to critically evaluate the environmental impacts of popular Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) platforms. Leveraging a technoskeptical approach (Krutka et al., 2019), learners engage in a series of activities that interrogate the relationship between GenAI and environmental sustainability. More specifically, this article describes a sequence of lessons where undergraduates discuss and review research on the environmental demands of GenAI and demonstrate their understanding through a public service announcement and reflection.