By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative
One of the many striking features of archaeology is the ability to make things and patterns that often are difficult to see visible. These include both buried objects and other remains, as well as the landscape and lived experiences that those same objects and remains can share: those who are not included in written history, events that some people would prefer to ignore, and yet practices that were frequently hidden even in the past.
Which is why I bring an archaeologist’s appreciation to recent reports of the energy and water that artificial intelligence ( AI ) systems are using. If you’re reading this website, you’re definitely seeing many of the same AI prompts I’m seeing: chat boxes that appear unbidden in almost every application, promising to eliminate the strain of typing or thinking. * To be sure, there are important uses for AI and machine learning. These include an evaluation of the tens of thousands of culture research reports that are currently being published annually, a rate that is beyond the comprehension of people. However, the common tools that are everywhere seem to have the beauty of plain magic. The amounts of energy and water that are needed for each and every interaction are what are n’t visible at these interfaces: according to the Washington Post ( see link below ), a bottle of water and 14 hours of an LED lightbulb are needed for a 100 word email generated by ChatGPT.
Archaeology serves as a tool for exposing social systems that, as we now know, require our energetic attention to relax. This moving of the shovel on what lies beneath AI is also important as we attempt to lower emissions and improve economic sustainability.
*Please take note that I therefore confirm that none of these website comments have been created using AI.
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Photo funds: Illustration of the electricity use of a 100-word email sent by the Washington Post via the link above from ChatGPT.
