Jon Ippolito with Sara and Ben Brumfield, How Green Is Your Prompt

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This teleconference is a project of the University of Maine's Digital Curation program. For more information, contact ude.eniam@otiloppij.

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Is it fair to compare AI’s footprint to Netflix binges or burgers?

In this webinar organized by Sara and Ben Brumfield of FromThePage in conjunction with the University of Maine's Digital Curation program on 2 April 2026, New Media professor and Digital Curation program director Jon Ippolito reviews the science behind these comparisons and applies it to determine which activities and techniques use the most or least electricity and water. The webinar also reviews the critical difference between global and local impacts, and why numbers alone don’t always tell the full story.

AI’s footprint is often compared to frivolous or leisure activities like watching movies or scrolling TikTok. This time we’ll also compare it to tasks relevant for people who work with media like archivists and educators, from digitizing images to meeting via Zoom to uploading videos.

Computer scientist and special guest Greg Nelson joins the webinar with student Ethan Morin to demo a new chatbot that integrates AI footprints to help individuals and organizations understand their environmental impact, based the What Uses More app. Nelson's app, CollaborAIte, also features recommendations for ways users can offset AI use by abstaining from other carbon-intensive activities.

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