As the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes commonplace in today’s world and everyday services like Google, Netflix and Spotify implement new AI-centered features, you may find yourself thinking: is the use of AI even avoidable at this point? How is this affecting our lives? Our world?
First—let’s backtrack. You may be aware that many people are skeptical about the use of AI, but not so many people understand the reasons behind this skepticism.
Traditional AI vs. Generative AI
Traditional AI, also known as Weak AI, is AI in its most basic form. This type of AI focuses on a single task utilizing algorithms and information already provided by the user or system. This is the kind of AI that was originally used for search engines, voice assistants and Netflix recommendations. Traditional AI does not create something new; however, that is the sole purpose of Generative AI.
Generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini can take one simple sentence or image and transform it. A few short words can be easily turned into a 15-page short story. A math assignment can be converted into an extensive study guide. Randomly written lyrics can suddenly become an entire song. The capabilities of Generative AI seem amazingly unlimited.
The timeline of Generative AI
Generative AI, at its core, is rooted in algorithms and machine learning. These early ideas of Generative AI and its capabilities came about in the 1950s. Throughout the following decades, there were breakthroughs and setbacks, until we reached the 2000s.
Following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the United States saw an increase in national security. Under the Patriot Act, the government had more access to civilian surveillance, and with this, facial recognition technology was developed. This increased the research and development of AI, eventually leading to the release of ChatGPT in November 2022. At the time, ChatGPT was by far the most advanced Generative AI technology in the world.
Since then, there has not only been an unprecedented rapid improvement of AI, but different forms of AI have steadily popped up everywhere. Snapchat AI, or “My AI,” was introduced in Feb. 2023; Grammarly’s ability to generate new sentences and ideas in March 2023; Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, in Feb. 2024; Google’s AI overview in May 2024; Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta AI in April of this year.
The issues of AI
On the surface, AI is a great tool for making our everyday lives more convenient, and who doesn’t want that? But, AI has a bigger impact than just on our day-to-day lives. As surprising as it may sound, the use of AI has detrimental effects on our environment.
AI requires a massive amount of computing power, and therefore electricity, which ultimately leads to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Furthermore, up to five million gallons of water per day per facility are used to cool the hardware needed to run these machines. This depletes the water and disrupts ecosystems in the locations in which these facilities reside.
To put it into perspective, every time someone puts a prompt into chatbots like ChatGPT or Google Gemini, the water used is equivalent to a 16-oz. water bottle. If someone were to use AI once a day every day for a year, it would consume roughly 50 gallons of water.
Additionally, the construction of data centers—some covering more than a million square feet—has resulted in the destruction of homes and businesses, and there’s hardly any water for the homes left untouched. Beverly Morris, a woman who lives just outside of a massive data center in Mansfield, Georgia, told BBC News that she “can’t drink the water.”
Not only does AI negatively affect the environment, but it also affects our brains. In an MIT study from earlier this year, researchers recorded brain activity from 54 subjects as they wrote various SAT-level essays. The research showed that ChatGPT users had the lowest brain activity, suggesting that AI users are losing critical thinking skills.
Additionally, literacy rates among both children and adults have steadily decreased in recent years. According to Literacy Buffalo Niagara, the percentage of adults with low literacy in the United States increased from 19% to 28% between 2017 and 2023. According to NAGB, the Nation’s Report Card also shows a decline in reading scores among American students.
While there are many factors and likely causes of this, one is the use of AI and its accessibility. With AI, students can get away without doing any actual work. Students can generate entire essays with citations, find the answers to any quiz or summarize any sort of required reading. These kinds of shortcuts defeat the entire purpose of school: learning.
On top of this, AI is negatively affecting so many jobs. Instead of buying a hand-painted print from a local artist, people are using AI to generate their own art. Instead of hiring more employees to take orders, various fast-food restaurants are opting for AI-operated drive-thrus. Many companies are swapping out human customer service representatives with AI.
Unemployment rates in the United States have increased 0.6% between January 2022 (pre-ChatGPT) and November 2025. While this information alone isn’t enough to prove a direct correlation between AI replacements and unemployment, it is a difference of 1.2 million people.
The rise of AI in everyday life
In addition to chatbots, AI’s implementation into everyday services has steadily increased. Netflix has turned to AI for advertisements and personalization, Spotify has AI generated playlists, playlist covers and even an AI DJ, Instagram has a summarizing feature for lengthy messages, Adobe Photoshop has a generative fill feature and with Facetune, someone’s appearance can be completely altered using AI.
The widespread availability of AI across all platforms has not only encouraged casual use of AI but has made it nearly unavoidable. It’s almost impossible to scroll on Instagram for more than a few minutes without seeing at least one AI-generated image or video. The aforementioned music and streaming services make it hard to enjoy simple entertainment without being prompted to use AI.
Furthermore, using AI to complete assignments, solve simple problems or using it as a search engine has more or less been normalized amongst students; the phrase “I’ll just put it into ChatGPT” has become far too common. AI detectors are typically AI themselves and aren’t always accurate, so the risk students take when submitting an AI assignment doesn’t seem very high.
What do teachers think?
Drew McNeil is an AP World History and AP Art History teacher here at Santa Fe, so he has experience teaching sophomores, juniors and seniors.
“I think I do a pretty good job keeping [AI] out of my classroom, mainly through scare tactics, and, you know, potential loss of curves, zeroes,” McNeil said. “Using AI is pointless to me. You’re wasting your time if you’re using AI, and I try to convey that to the students, especially as an AP teacher, as they prepare for an AP test where they will definitely not be able to use AI.”
Generally, McNeil frowns upon the use of AI.
“It discourages originality, creativity and thoughtfulness in the way that we learn information, and the way that we create information, and in the way we create generally, whether that be a written essay or a digital image. In the past, people had to express themselves in unique ways that reflected them, but AI is really an aggregation of a variety of existing influences, and in that way, it makes it kind of static and it hinders creativity and creation.”
McNeil further notes its environmental impacts.
“It’s also a huge waste of environmental resources. You know, the amount of computing power that goes into making a silly AI-generated image to me seems not worth it.”
Finally, McNeil further notes the impact of AI on students and schools.
“Students rely on it as a crutch that impedes on them from developing as people, students [and] thinkers.”
What do students think?
Chloe Lamprecht is a senior at Santa Fe and has watched the rise of AI throughout her high school career.
“I think there are some advantages to the use of AI, but I think that Generative AI with images and videos is not worth the energy that it takes,” Lamprecht said. “I think that people overuse it, especially people our age. You don’t need to generate a photo of you kissing Glen Powell or something.”
Similar to McNeil, Lamprecht touches on the environmental effects.
“I think there’s also a point to make about people who live in the proximity of data centers because [data centers] take their water. And, it’s not in random places, it’s a lot closer than you think.”
Furthermore, Lamprecht points out that it’s not just students utilizing AI in schools, but it’s also sometimes teachers.
“I don’t have teachers that use AI, thankfully, but I’ve heard that a lot of teachers will grade using AI, and I think that’s kind of just disrespectful, because it is your job to grade. And so, I think that if you’re giving AI feedback that I could generate it’s just disrespectful to students and kind of to yourself.”
Finally, Lamprecht discusses her personal experience with AI in school.
“I would be lying if I said I’d never used AI, but I think that there’s a difference between using it to learn and using it to cheat on every single assignment and plagiarizing entirely.”
What can you do?
After evaluating the impacts of AI on various aspects of life, the cons seem to outweigh the pros. AI, of course, has its benefits, but for the average person, these benefits are just convenience. The best thing to do is avoid AI when possible; do that assignment yourself, disable AI suggestions when possible, read and comprehend that entire Instagram message instead of using Meta AI to summarize it, make your own playlists instead of using Spotify’s AI features and find recipes on Pinterest instead of asking ChatGPT.
At its core, AI is human-powered. Its advancements have been made possible only through human interaction, so in order to hinder AI’s progress and the negatives that coincide, we must dial back on AI use.
