On Monday, a panel and Q&A session on artificial intelligence and sustainability at Oberlin College took place in Dye Lecture Hall. The panel included Senior Associate Dean of Students Thom Julian, Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Laura Baudot, Conservatory Director for AI Innovation & Strategy Joseph Lubben, Senior Director for Energy and Sustainability Christopher Norman, and Chief Information Officer Marcel Mutsindashyake. Presenters and panelists explained that the goals of the event included providing information about the College’s approach to AI and bridging the gap between programming for the Year of AI Exploration and student concerns about the environmental impact of AI. The panel followed a separate event held last week where faculty, staff, and student leaders spoke about the year of AI exploration more generally.
The College held the panel in collaboration with the Oberlin Climate Coalition, previously known as Sunrise Oberlin, a student hub for environmental activism.
In a presentation given before the panel, College first-year and OCC member Sophie Brown explained that the event was organized after the OCC raised concerns about the environmental impacts of AI usage.
“AI has a really big impact on [the] climate, specifically in water usage, and we were very concerned about that,” Brown said. “On Oct. 28, we met with President [Carmen Twillie] Ambar’s administration and several faculty members that are part of the AI advisory board to discuss our concerns about AI and climate change, and that’s really where this panel came about.”
A presentation from Senior Director of Energy and Sustainability Christopher Norman discussed AI’s place in the College’s approach to sustainability. Norman explained that sustainable AI use would involve ensuring that providers and data centers meet environmental standards.
“When we think about providers that we might recommend for providing artificial intelligence, or data centers that we might be engaging with to provide us these computing services, not just AI, there [are] certain things that we would want to look into,” Norman said in his presentation. “[These include] onsite combustion, … efficiency of the equipment, the site management that they’re employing — how’s the equipment being operated? We’ve heard already about concerns about water consumption, electricity consumption — where is that electricity coming from?”
During the panel and Q&A session, panelists addressed student concerns about the use of AI on campus, particularly in regards to balancing AI programming with environmental concerns. General themes the panelists discussed included the value of a balanced approach to AI, the importance of obtaining data about AI use and its environmental impacts, and the need to develop standards as to what constitutes appropriate use of AI in an academic setting.
