NSF Funds Project to Examine Social, Environmental Impacts of AI
As artificial intelligence continues to expand its footprint across society, some researchers are raising questions about the potential negative impact of this technological transformation.
Associate professor Mar Hicks and assistant professor Jess Reia of the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science are partnering with Tamara Kneese and the Data and Society Research Institute to examine this critical issue in a project that the National Science Foundation recently awarded a two-year, $300,000 grant.
Working with the Data and Society Research Institute, Hicks and Reia will examine what effects large data centers that are built by AI companies have on the physical environment and community life in the areas in which they reside.
While the carbon costs of this infrastructure are being assessed by some AI developers, other concerns have received comparatively little attention, including those related to electronic waste and land, energy, and water use.
The research team will work directly with affected communities to help better understand these issues and ensure that their views are being heard and accounted for by governments as they formulate AI regulations and policies.
Using participatory methods, the project team will conduct interviews with stakeholders, as well as organize workshops and pilot studies, all aimed at developing frameworks for assessing AI’s impact on the environment and society that are based on the experiences and knowledge of those most affected.
The grant is part of NSF’s Responsible Design and Deployment of Technologies program, an initiative that is providing more than $18 million of support to 44 multidisciplinary, multi-sector research teams across the country.
This project will build on work and research Hicks and Reia have done in recent years.
Hicks, who joined the School of Data Science in 2023, co-organized a conference this summer with UVA history professor Erik Linstrum, where experts from a variety of fields in academia and industry submitted papers and shared their research on lessons from history that can guide our current approaches to dealing with the social and environmental impacts of AI.
A follow-up virtual conference, which will be open to the public, is planned for Dec. 6.
Reia, who came to the School of Data Science in 2021, also serves as faculty co-lead for the Karsh Institute’s Digital Technology for Democracy Lab. Earlier this year, UVA’s Environmental Institute announced it would fund a project co-led by Reia exploring environmental and digital rights issues raised by the incorporation of big data systems into automobiles.
