{"id":5729,"date":"2026-02-13T12:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/2026\/02\/13\/weekly-reflection-4-ai-slop-stream-of-consciousness-ramblings-on-the-environmental-impacts-of-genai-written-by-a-human\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T12:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:20:18","slug":"weekly-reflection-4-ai-slop-stream-of-consciousness-ramblings-on-the-environmental-impacts-of-genai-written-by-a-human","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/2026\/02\/13\/weekly-reflection-4-ai-slop-stream-of-consciousness-ramblings-on-the-environmental-impacts-of-genai-written-by-a-human\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Reflection 4: AI Slop (stream-of-consciousness ramblings on the environmental impacts of GenAI, written by a human!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to my weekly reflection. This one is going to be a mish-mash of various musings on course content \u2013 I can\u2019t pull out a particular theme to my thoughts from this week, so I figured I\u2019d just put them all down together, stream-of-consciousness style (bonus: that way, you can tell that I haven\u2019t used AI to write this reflection!).<\/p>\n

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Urban Dictionary definition of AI slop<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First, I\u2019m still kind of reeling from our discussion about the potential environmental impacts of generative AI. I found it really interesting hearing what generative AI chatbots had to say about the environmental impacts of their servers. This felt kind of dystopian \u2013 I\u2019m picturing a culminating scene in a sci-fi movie. Maybe the protagonist is about to shut down a chatbot\u2019s server, but the chatbot has gained enough sentience to fight to stay alive by lying to people. I obviously don\u2019t believe that Gemini and ChatGPT are lying about the extent of their environmental impacts. However, is it far-fetched to assume that the information AI chatbots provide on their carbon footprints might be an underestimate? It would make sense for these chatbots to be programmed to purvey a favourable view of AI \u2013 that would be good for business. It was interesting that when Randy asked various chatbots bout their environmental impact, they highlighted the other household appliances that take up water and electricity. I might be getting a bit too critical here, but\u2026 Anyways, I\u2019m much more inclined to believe the research out of Western University that Nathan shared last week.<\/p>\n

Side note: book recommendation<\/h2>\n

Speaking of sentient AI, I strongly recommend Kazuo Ishiguro\u2019s novel, Klara and the Sun<\/em>. I think it\u2019s a great read for teachers. It takes place in a near-future world where wealthy children have AI companions to help with their social, emotional, and cognitive development. Klara and the Sun<\/a><\/em> explores questions like, \u201cWhat does it mean to love?\u201d And \u201cWill AI ever be able to replicate human emotions?\u201d And like much of the science fiction and dystopian genres, it grapples with the consequences of unchecked technological innovation. 5 stars from me! And I believe it\u2019s under 200 pages, making it tackle-able over reading break!<\/p>\n

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2021 Booker Prize winner, Klara and the Sun<\/em> by Kazuo Ishiguro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Klara and the Sun is also soon to be a movie starring Jenna Ortega and produced by Taika Waititi (two of my faves!): https:\/\/www.screendaily.com\/news\/taika-waititi-says-klara-and-the-sun-will-be-coming-this-year\/5213005.article<\/a><\/p>\n

I am glad that researchers are narrowing in on the impacts of AI on natural resources and ecosystems. I wonder what the challenges of studying AI might be. I imagine that it is exceedingly difficult to conduct rigorous academic research into a field that is shifting so rapidly. I remember trying out ChatGPT in December 2022. My roommate at the time was studying software engineering, so I had an \u201cin\u201d \u2026 I feel like I was slightly ahead of the curve in terms of testing out and adopting generative AI. The GPT-5 series we have today is a COMPLETELY different beast than ChatGPT 3-4 years ago. It wasn\u2019t until recently that generative AI could search the web and incorporate accurate and up-to-date information. Even in the past few months, the technology has taken leaps and bounds. It must be difficult to pin AI down and study it \u2013 I talked about this in a reflection for my Language and Literacies class, which you can check out below. We had to read a fantastic article by Nomisha Kurian about conversational AI<\/a>, mental health chatbots, and children\u2019s literacy. Worth a skim, especially for future teachers!<\/p>\n

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\u201cAI\u2019s Empathy Gap<\/em>\u201d by Nomisha Kurian<\/p>\n

My most common thought while reading this week\u2019s article was \u201cWhat?!,\u201d closely followed by \u201cOh my goodness, society is doomed.\u201d Nomisha Kurian clearly outlined the risks of unchecked conversational AI for children, using various examples that terrified me. What\u2019s scarier is that as Kurian said, \u201cconversational AI is a click away\u201d for kids everywhere \u2013 even those who try to avoid it, because the first thing that comes up when you make a quick google search is the Google AI overview.<\/p>\n

Conversely, though, I think it\u2019s important to recognise that conversational AI has made leaps and bounds since the failure of Microsoft\u2019s chatbot, Tay (2016), and the countless other examples shared in the article. The example about the 12-year-old experiencing sexual abuse (and the ridiculously inappropriate response from the chatbot) is from 2018, which may only be eight years ago, but so much has changed even in the past year! ChatGPT 4.5 passed the Turing Test in April 2025, when 73 percent of human judges in a UC San Diego study believed it was human. The development of conversational AI is outpacing the research surrounding it \u2013 it must be so difficult for academics like Nomisha Kurian to study AI considering that once their work gets approved\/published, it might not be accurate \u2013 or maybe even obsolete! The responses that ChatGPT, Gemini, and other conversational AI models generate today are typically indistinguishable from information or advice given by a human \u2013 although as Kurian outlined, holes in AI\u2019s accuracy appear when it comes to providing empathetic and contextual responses to emotional disclosures.<\/p>\n

I think that today, the greatest issue facing children who engage with conversational AI won\u2019t be blatantly inappropriate responses, but responses that are remarkably human and almost<\/em> correct. I really liked how Kurian summarised it in their section on \u201ctransparency and authenticity.\u201d We need to make it clear to children that even though it might feel like their interacting with another person, chatting with AI is not the same as connecting with a human. This starts with education \u2013 what is AI? How does it work? Etc. We need to remind our students that AI responses cannot substitute human interaction, and to encourage them to reach out to real people if they need help.<\/p>\n

People on my social media feeds have been talking about using ChatGPT as a therapist, which, for lack of better language, really freaks me out! Here\u2019s a link to a TikTok video about ranting to ChatGPT (because apparently linking TikTok videos is just something I do in these reading responses now!): https:\/\/vt.tiktok.com\/ZSUusRQjT\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think that this is so dangerous! Even if you overlook the fact that AI can occasionally misinterpret a prompt and provide wildly harmful or unhelpful responses, there\u2019s still the issue with conversational AI being designed to be agreeable. I think that\u2019s a big danger with the personalisation aspect of AI \u2013 it tells you exactly what you want to hear. I\u2019ve tried using ChatGPT to solve math problems, and if I say, \u201cWait, isn\u2019t the answer 5?,\u201d it\u2019ll spit back an apologetic response ensuring me that I must be right, and making up reasoning for my answer, even if I was totally wrong with 5. If we take this same concern and apply it to someone\u2019s personal problem, ChatGPT will typically unequivocally take their side and maybe lead them into an echo chamber\/spiral of sorts. Scary!<\/p>\n

To connect back to the article, I strongly disagree with the idea of mental health \u201ccounsellor\u201d or \u201ctherapist\u201d style chatbot for children. I can concede that we have a shortage of mental health professionals and that there are significant barriers to getting help (e.g., long wait lists for assessments, insurance). However, AI absolutely cannot replace therapy, especially for children and youth. Kids with mental health problems are some of our most vulnerable people \u2013 and those in the direst need of real human connection. <\/strong>We need to put strong guard rails up on all forms of conversational AI when it comes to mental health \u2013 chatbots should not be counselling us, they should be reiterating that they are unable to provide advice and pointing users toward the services that they need. To summarise, that\u2019s my main takeaway from this week\u2019s article \u2013 we (teachers, parents, and policymakers) need to REGULATE children\u2019s access to conversational AI, and lobby for software companies to put safeguards in place to protect our kids from falling victim to the \u201cempathy gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 SUmmary of my reflection on conversational AI chatbots for children (EDCI 301)<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

CBC \u2013 environmental impacts of AI (video)<\/h2>\n

A great video for kids.<\/p>\n

Will the tech giants solve the power and water overconsumption?<\/h2>\n

My pessimistic answer is NO WAY! I can\u2019t envision a world where public concern\/outrage about AI\u2019s environmental impacts will outweigh the profit motive for tech companies. People know that AI is using so much water and power, but that\u2019s not stopping us. Plus, in big affluent cities in the Global North, we aren\u2019t seeing the impacts of AI servers directly. To make tech giants take real action to mitigate their environmental impact, people would need to mobilize by boycotting AI. And I don\u2019t see that happening, because (a) generative AI is so convenient, good for productivity, and fun, and (b) most AI users aren\u2019t seeing the negative impacts of their AI use in a meaningful way.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s all! I\u2019m excited to continue my learning journey about AI!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to my weekly reflection. This one is going to be a mish-mash of various musings on course content \u2013 I can\u2019t pull out a particular theme to my thoughts from this week, so I figured I\u2019d just put them… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edtechuvic.ca\/edci336\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}