While artificial intelligence can damage the environment, it also has the potential to promote sustainability, climate experts said during a Wednesday forum at Kerckhoff Grand Salon.

Environmentalists of Color Collective hosts the Climate Justice Forum annually, said ECC Co-President Naya Bender, a fourth-year environmental science student. She added that the event aims to raise awareness and foster dialogue about current environmental justice issues.

“Even if you don’t like AI, you may end up being left behind career-wise if you are so vehemently against it without knowing (its) real applications,” she said.

ECC is devoted to highlighting people of color’s voices and examining the intersection between environmental racism and climate injustice, Bender said. The forum focused on the impact of AI on the climate and workforce, Bender added.

Helene Cornell – a speaker and the co-founder of Aris Hydronics, which creates environmentally friendly home design options – said her company’s new AI-driven product can revolutionize energy use in the home. The AI monitors home energy usage through small and affordable sensors, which ensures minimal energy consumption, she added.

Arnav Patel, a speaker and doctoral student in anthropology, said AI has helped environmentalists who are unfamiliar with English improve their communication skills, especially given that most scientific research is published in English. This could diversify the current climate research pool, he added.

“English is the language of science,” he said. “That fact keeps a lot of people out of the discourse.”

Environmentalists should also explore leveraging AI’s need for energy as a way to rebuild energy infrastructure sustainably, Patel added.

“I don’t see why we could not, in the environmental justice movement, go on with that to advance our own causes around how energy is generated,” he said.

Environmentalists are concerned about the amount of energy AI data centers use, said Lizzeth Rosales, the director of environmental justice for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

However, Rosales, a speaker at the event, added that she believes environmentalists should focus on minimizing data centers’ water rather than energy usage. Water is a finite resource and AI data centers could harm local communities’ drinkable water supply, Rosales added.

Rosales, a UCLA alumnus, said she enjoyed speaking at the event because it allowed her to interact with students.

She added that she believes policymakers should implement legislation that ensures AI does not harm vulnerable communities.

“It’s a principle, first do no harm … that the communities in which these data centers reside don’t feel an adverse impact on their ability to consume water,” she said.

Victoria Nguyen, an event moderator and doctoral candidate at UC Irvine, said she believes AI can help students in the classroom if it is used strategically. However, she added that she believes AI should be used in conjunction with human empathy.

Ximena Zepeda, an attendee and third-year environmental science student, said the stories about communities impacted by AI data centers resonated with her because of her upbringing in the Inland Empire, where environmental social injustices stem from the prevalent warehouse industry.

Zepeda said the event showed her that AI can be used to help the environment but can also pose negative impacts on water and energy supply and, in turn, communities’ health.

“I hope that people are rightly concerned but not disheartened by the state of the world and that they realize the power lays with us, the people, and that we can create and make a difference collectively and individually,” Rosales said.