Yale Program on Climate Change Communication

4. AI and Environmental Impact

4.1 A majority of GitHub users say AI systems contribute to climate change.

About six in ten respondents (63%) say AI systems (such as training and running large language models) are contributing to climate change either “a great deal” (28%) or “a moderate amount” (34%). One in three (33%) say AI systems are contributing “only a little” (21%) or “not at all” (12%). Few (5%) say they don’t know.4.2 About seven in ten GitHub users are concerned about the environmental impact of AI systems.

About seven in ten respondents (71%) say they are either “very concerned” (39%) or “somewhat concerned” (32%) about the environmental impact of AI systems, including the energy and water use and carbon emissions associated with training and running large language models. Twenty eight percent say they are “not very concerned” (16%) or “not at all concerned” (12%).