Goodreads Debate Guild discussion

debate⠀/dɪˈbeɪt/
noun
1.⠀⠀formal discussion on a particular matter in a public meeting or legislative assembly,
⠀⠀⠀ in which opposing arguments are put forward and which usually ends with a vote.
2.⠀⠀an argument about a particular subject, especially one in which many people are
⠀⠀⠀ involved.

verb
1.⠀⠀argue about (a subject), especially in a formal manner.
2.⠀⠀consider a possible course of action in one’s mind before reaching a decision.

SOURCE, OXFORD LEARNER’S DICTIONARY
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionarie...


This is the Artificial Intelligence (AI) topic. Below are a few direct links to different
websites which are the sources we have found for this topic and the points
we have made.

[⠀⠀https://news.mit.edu/2023/explained-g...⠀⠀ ⠀]
[⠀⠀https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-...⠀⠀]
[⠀⠀https://screenrant.com/studio-ghibli-...⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀]
[⠀⠀https://futurism.com/the-byte/fanfict...⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀]
[⠀⠀https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-g...⠀⠀ ⠀]

We see generative artificial intelligence like ChatGPT everywhere these days, but what actually is it? Generally, generative AI is referring to a machine-learning model that is using a wide array of data to create new data, often very similar to the data that it was trained on. Generative AI like ChatGPT are not search engines. They are not smart enough to do complex math or draw conclusions about new information, and since they are formulating responses based on the input data, they may repeat any misinformation or fallacies that were fed to it. This is why you may see the AI giving you links to nonexistent articles or returning nonsense answers if you attempt to use it for your math homework. While AI can be very useful for editing a paper or brainstorming ideas for your next project, be wary of how you choose to use it.

Generative AI is also being used to create art and write stories, which takes a turn to a more problematic facet of AI. Artists are having their work stolen from across the internet to be used to train AI models. They are not being asked permission, and they are given no warning or credit for their work. Have you seen those Studio Ghibli AI portraits? The art from those movies was not freely given to the AI models, and creator Hayao Miyazaki has been very outspoken against AI art. Even fanfiction on sites like ArchiveOfOurOwn is being stolen to train AI models, against the very outspoken wishes of the creators on the site.

To top it all off, it takes an unbelievable amount or resources to keep generative AI programs online. While it can be difficult to quantify the exact amount of energy needed to train and maintain an AI model, we have some idea. In a 2021 research paper, scientists from Google and the University of California at Berkeley estimated the training process alone consumed 1,287 megawatt hours of electricity (enough to power about 120 average U.S. homes for a year), generating about 552 tons of carbon dioxide. Fossil fuels are the only resource we have in a high enough stock at the moment to keep these machines running, which is not great for global carbon emissions. On top of that, these machines are incredibly hot, and require vast amounts of water to keep them cool. It has been estimated that for each kilowatt hour of energy a data center consumes, it would need two liters of water for cooling. When western states are in constant drought, there is better use for that water than AI.

AI can be beneficial for sorting through large swaths of data, like finding particular features on the surface of planets or searching for cancerous cells, but generative AI is not used for those purposes. AI isn’t all bad and it is likely our future, but it is important to be aware of how it is being trained and what the environmental impact of its continued use will be.