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Visualizing AI Energy Use: Can Consumption Reminders Promote Social Good Mindsets?
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2025-05-19
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Abstract
Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) tools like ChatGPT are reshaping digital interactions across industries, but with significant, often invisible, environmental costs. From high energy consumption during model training and inference to large-scale water usage for data center cooling, Gen AI contributes to an expanding ecological footprint. Despite this, users remain largely unaware of their personal impact due to the seamless and abstracted nature of AI platforms. This study investigates whether integrating visual cues about energy usage into AI interfaces can raise awareness and promote more sustainable user behavior. Drawing on theories from environmental psychology, corporate social responsibility, and human-computer interaction, the research uses a mixed-methods experimental design involving 168 undergraduate university participants. Each participant interacted with a version of ChatGPT modified with different visual sustainability treatments, ranging from symbolic footnotes to interactive energy meters. While results did not show statistically significant changes in behavior across treatment groups, qualitative responses revealed increased reflection, emotional engagement, and openness to change, particularly among users exposed to subtler cues. These findings suggest that visibility alone is insufficient; effective intervention must be value-driven, emotionally resonant, and seamlessly integrated. The study contributes to the emerging field of ethical AI design by proposing that bridging the psychological distance between users and technological consumption is essential for promoting social good in the digital age.
Contents
Subject
Generative AI
Gen AI
Artificial Intelligence Sustainability
AI Energy Consumption
Environmental Impact of AI
Carbon Emissions of AI
AI Water Usage
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Behavioral Change
Consumption Awareness
Sustainability Nudges
Visual Consumption Cues
Energy Visualization
Psychological Distance
Environmental Psychology
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Ethical AI Design
User Motivation
Mixed-Methods Research
Experimental Design
Interface Design
Digital Sustainability
Ecological Footprint
Sustainable
Gen AI
Artificial Intelligence Sustainability
AI Energy Consumption
Environmental Impact of AI
Carbon Emissions of AI
AI Water Usage
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Behavioral Change
Consumption Awareness
Sustainability Nudges
Visual Consumption Cues
Energy Visualization
Psychological Distance
Environmental Psychology
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
Ethical AI Design
User Motivation
Mixed-Methods Research
Experimental Design
Interface Design
Digital Sustainability
Ecological Footprint
Sustainable
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Business Information Systems