Sustainability

This paper bridges the gap between AI ethics and environmental sustainability, proposing a framework that considers both ethical and environmental implications of AI development. The research examines how ethical AI principles can be aligned with environmental sustainability goals, addressing issues such as computational efficiency, resource allocation, and environmental justice. The authors propose concrete guidelines for developing AI systems that are both ethically sound and environmentally sustainable.

In recent years,Large Language Models (LLMs) have significantly improved in generating high-quality code, enabling their integration into developers’ Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) as code assistants. These assistants, such as GitHub Copilot, deliver real-time code suggestions and can greatly enhance developers’ productivity. However, the environmental impact of these tools, in particular their energy consumption, remains a key concern. This paper investigates the energy consumption of LLM-based code assistants by simulating developer interactions with GitHub Copilot and analyzing various configuration factors. We collected a dataset of development traces from 20 developers and conducted extensive software project development simulations to measure energy usage under different scenarios. Our findings reveal that the energy consumption and performance of code assistants are influenced by various factors, such as the number of concurrent developers, model size, quantization methods, and the use of streaming. Notably, a substantial portion of generation requests made by GitHub Copilot is either canceled or rejected by developers, indicating a potential area for reducing wasted computations. Based on these findings, we share actionable insights into optimizing configurations for different use cases, demonstrating that careful adjustments can lead to significant energy savings.

Ce rapport intermédiaire du Shift Project examine les implications environnementales des technologies d’intelligence artificielle. L’étude analyse la consommation d’énergie, les émissions de carbone et les ressources nécessaires à l’entraînement et au déploiement des modèles d’IA. Le rapport formule des recommandations pour développer et utiliser l’IA en accord avec les objectifs de durabilité écologique et les principes de sobriété numérique.

This comprehensive survey examines the environmental impact of artificial intelligence throughout its lifecycle, from development to deployment and maintenance. The paper provides a systematic analysis of the challenges in making AI more sustainable, including hardware efficiency, algorithm design, and operational practices. The authors identify key opportunities for reducing AI’s environmental footprint and propose a research agenda for sustainable AI development.