This page is a working document and will continue to be updated with resources that are not pay-walled. Have a recommendation? Email contact@maddiecoe.com.
m.coe creative aligns with global efforts to uphold the integrity and value of human-centered, sustainable art and design.
This includes working to educate about the harmful effects of artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI, and large language models (LLMs), while putting safeguards in place to protect creative integrity and ingenuity, and the environment.
- Map of AI Data Centers Across the US – Business Insider
- Protecting Your Likeness From AI: What You Need to Know – The Wrap
- Signs of AI Writing – WikiProject AI Cleanup
- Creative Brands Against AI:
- Anti-AI Explained: Why Resistance to Artificial Intelligence Is Growing (Built In, pub. Aug. 6, 2025)
- AI vs. Traditional Programming – What’s the Difference? (GeeksforGeeks, pub. July 23, 2025)
- Against AI: An Open Letter From Writers to Publishers (Literary Hub, pub. June 27, 2025)
- Albanese govt rules out giving AI developers exemption for data mining in move welcomed by media, publishing industry (Sky News, pub. Oct. 26, 2025)
- How data centers are deepening the water crisis (Business Insider, pub. June 24, 2025)
- AI art creates risk of moral injury, not just copyright infringement (Vox, pub. April 16, 2025)
- What does decolonising AI really mean? (GlobalVoices, rev. April 18, 2025; pub. Aug. 14, 2024)
Environmental Concerns
- AI data centers consume and deplete many of the Earth’s natural resources, including copper, lithium, silicon, water, energy, and land. 5
- Energy use required to run AI technology leads to fossil fuel combustion and the release of pollutants that cause air and water pollution, respiratory issues, and acid rain. 4
- One search query in ChatGPT consumes around five times more electricity than a typical web search. 1
- One million messages sent to ChatGPT is equivalent to:
- 11,001 miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle
- 4.3 acres of carbon absorbed by US forests in one year
- 349,258 smartphones charged 3
- AI data centers require large amounts of chilled water to absorb heat from computing equipment. 1
- Training Meta’s Llama-3.1 generative AI model produced the same amount of air pollution as more than 10,000 round trips by car between Los Angeles and New York City. 2
- AI can have detrimental environmental impacts due to its reliance on non-renewable energy sources, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. The physical production of AI hardware involves mining metals, which can lead to soil erosion and pollution. Improper electronic waste recycling further exacerbates pollution, contaminating soil and water sources. 3
Sources
1 Generative AI’s environmental impact (MIT News, pub. Jan. 17, 2025)
2 AI Is Fundamentally Incompatible With Environmental Sustainability (TechRepublic, pub. April 21, 2025)
3 AI’s Environmental Impact: Calculated and Explained (Arbor, rev. Feb. 21, 2025)
4 Can We Mitigate AI’s Environmental Impacts? (Yale School of the Environment, pub. Oct. 10, 2024)
5 As AI Booms, So Does Demand For Water, Power And Minerals (Forbes, pub. Nov. 6, 2025)
