University leaders have been urged to lobby firms to release environmental data connected to the use of artificial intelligence to help institutions get a handle on how increased reliance on the technology is impacting on climate goals.
As concerns grow over the mostly hidden emissions generated by AI, UK IT body Jisc and the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) have published a sustainability guide for the education sector.
Unveiled as part of the annual EUAC conference, the report recommends university, college and sector leaders rally together to demand greater transparency from AI vendors on the technology’s water consumption and energy use.
“For institutions, the challenge is that energy consumption data for specific AI tools is rarely disclosed,” the guide states.
“Most vendors do not provide per-query or per-user energy figures, making it difficult to incorporate AI use into institutional carbon accounting.”
