{"id":47830,"date":"2025-08-06T12:39:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T12:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47830\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T12:39:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T12:39:07","slug":"meet-the-ai-vegans-arwa-mahdawi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/47830\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the AI vegans | Arwa Mahdawi"},"content":{"rendered":"

I tried to write a letter recently but my hand didn\u2019t quite cooperate: the result was a maniacal scrawl. I rarely put literal pen to paper any more and it seems my overreliance on a keyboard means I may have lost the ability to write legible cursive. I\u2019m not alone: handwriting is disappearing<\/a>. It\u2019s possible my kid will never be taught<\/a> joined-up writing at school. While typing is more efficient, studies suggest typing notes rather than writing may have a negative impact on the brain\u2019s ability to learn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A keyboard feels like stone age technology now; as AI becomes more embedded in our lives, what impact will that have on our brains? We\u2019re still figuring that out. The people who make money from the tech keep telling us we need it, or we\u2019ll fall behind. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, recently said if you don\u2019t wear AI-powered smart glasses, you will find yourself<\/a> at a \u201csignificant cognitive disadvantage\u201d in the near future. However, a recent study suggests an overreliance on ChatGPT could harm critical thinking<\/a> abilities. And then, of course, there\u2019s all the other collateral damage of AI \u2013 from its massive environmental impact<\/a> to its exploitation of underpaid creatives\u2019 labour.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is keen on participating in this brave new world. Meet the \u201cAI vegans<\/a>\u201d: people who have chosen to abstain from using AI for environmental, ethical and personal wellness reasons. Yes, \u201cAI veganism\u201d is a real phrase. No, I didn\u2019t make it up. Although I rather wish I did, because it\u2019s quite catchy, isn\u2019t it? Side note: one of the most genius rebrands of all time was the way fake leather (which is often made from polyurethane, a type of plastic) suddenly became aspirational \u201cvegan leather\u201d.<\/p>\n

Will AI veganism catch on? Who knows. But, just like regular veganism, I\u2019m sure its practitioners will tell you about it. And while it may be unrealistic to expect the masses to go digitally vegan, it\u2019s not a bad idea for us all to be more cognisant of how much AI we consume and its impact on the planet. Perhaps any request to AI apps should be met with a digital calorie count first? Yes, I can generate a picture of a cat in a spaceship eating a taco, but my AI model might guzzle a bottle of water<\/a> to do so and 10 <\/a>times more energy<\/a> than a Google search \u2026 do you really want that picture? Just some food for thought.<\/p>\n

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I tried to write a letter recently but my hand didn\u2019t quite cooperate: the result was a maniacal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-47830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}