Many consider the invention of the Internet in the 1980s to be the most recent turning point in history. Revolutionizing nearly every aspect of human society, the Internet came with a lot of changes, both good and bad. While vibrant online communities and free speech platforms flourish, so do hate speech and misinformation. In 2025, AI is going to be the next big change, and if we’re not careful, it could be a disastrous one.
AI is unique because of its ability to, as the name suggests, mimic human intelligence. According to the University of Illinois, AI works by applying mathematical algorithms to large data sets, employing pattern recognition to adapt its predictions as more information is added. What this all means is that AI can do a lot of things a human can do, only faster, cheaper, and on a much greater scale.
With its applications in a variety of fields, from weather forecasting to medical research to self-driving vehicles, there’s no denying the potential AI has for good. Problems that might take a group of researchers years to solve may be completed by AI in minutes; natural disasters that would otherwise have too many variables for humans to compute could be predicted with AI, potentially saving thousands of lives as the technology advances.
Already, researchers and investors alike are seeing what AI could be. More than a quarter trillion dollars were privately invested into AI in 2024 alone, and the Wall Street Journal estimates that a further $400 billion will be spent by big tech companies by the end of this year.
While all this advancement sounds great, the true cost of AI goes far beyond the monetary. AI consumes an incredible amount of electricity and natural resources, contributing hundreds of tons of carbon emissions while wrecking local ecosystems where data centers are located (for more information on the environmental impact of AI, see Stinger staff writer Abi Rios-Tejeda’s article here).
But how to reconcile the immense good AI offers with the resources it destroys?
To me, the answer seems simple: cut the fat.
Generative AI is one of the most widely used forms of AI among the public, especially among high schoolers. Large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini, as well as image and video generating applications like Sora, fall under this category. It’s a type of AI that, in response to a prompt, creates ‘new’ content—or, more accurately, builds a Frankenstein’s monster-type imitation—out of a database filled with actual human works. This, in my opinion, is the most unnecessary and unethical usage of AI. It’s not only wasteful of resources this planet can’t spare, but also of our own human potential.
As it was with the early Internet, more young people, including high schoolers, tend to use generative AI than do adults. Indeed, according to a survey of 170 Hinsdale South students, 87.1% of students have used generative AI, and 72.9% use it on a regular basis.
What is surprising is the number of these students who say they care about the environment; 95.2% of surveyed students said they were at least somewhat concerned about climate change, and 64.3% considered themselves very concerned. It’s obvious that Hinsdale South students don’t want to harm the environment, but many are doing it inadvertently by using AI.
It’s understandable to be tempted by the convenience that generative AI offers. For busy students, saving just a few minutes on studying may seem like it’s well worth the drops of water your one prompt uses. But drops of water are what make up an ocean, and your choices can make a world of difference when it comes to preventing generative AI’s harmful effects.
On top of the environmental costs, generative AI is proven to cause long-term harm to learning. In a study published by MIT in 2025, participants who used generative AI to write their essays displayed significantly weaker brain connectivity than those who did not. More concerning still, participants who used generative AI consistently performed worse at “neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels” over a period of four months.
Now more than ever, it’s crucial for young people to retain critical thinking skills and the ability to learn. Already, AI has come for the unskilled jobs. Using our own brains to make art, write essays, and compose music—what distinguishes us from machines—is what will stop AI from taking skilled jobs, too. There’s no doubt that AI has the capacity to change the world. But how it does that, and if we’re left in the dust, is entirely up to us.
