Hello and thank you for visiting our site. We've dedicated this project towards making the concept of degrowth easy to understand and talk about. In creating this website, we've used Artificial Intelligence (AI - and more specifically Large Language Models) in several ways, and we need to be open about this. We recognize that AI is increasingly becoming a new form of colonialism used to exploit people and resources, predominantly in the Global South and marginalized communities in the North. In essence, this was a contradiction that could not be avoided due to the current state of the system we live in (limited time and resource constrains whilst still having bills to pay), and we want to acknowledge this honestly and openly.
How We Used AI
AI has played a role in the following areas:
- Image Creation: Many of the images on our site were created using AI. This helped us make the site visually appealing (which is, unfortunately, a big deal nowadays) and provide content for visual learners.
- Brainstorming and Feedback: We've used AI to brainstorm ideas, get feedback on structure, and improve the flow of our content.
- Content Generation: Parts of our content were refined or simplified with the help of AI to make sure the content was as accessible, clear and understandable as possible.
Why We Used AI
We turned to AI primarily due to limited time and resources. Creating this website was a labour of love, mostly done by a single person who had to balance many tasks and still make rent. We didn't have the budget to fairly compensate a graphic designer for all the visuals needed, nor the time to handle all the content manually. AI offered a way to fill these gaps, allowing us to create the content and visuals necessary to make this site informative and engaging. While this was not an ideal solution, it was a practical one given our constraints.
Acknowledging the Impacts of AI
While AI has helped us enhance the site, we must be upfront about the significant downsides and ethical issues involved when using AI:
- Resource Consumption: AI uses a lot of resources. The training and running of AI large language models consume large amounts of energy and water, which contributes to environmental harm, and social injustice. This is a tough pill to swallow for us, given our commitment to sustainability and justice.
- Ethical Concerns: The development of AI often involves extremely unjust labour practices. Many workers in low-wage countries handle content moderation under poor and unjust conditions. Additionally, AI training data often includes art and writings without proper credit or payment to the original creators, essentially stealing their work.
- Impact on Creativity: Relying on AI for content and art generation can undermine the unique and invaluable contributions of human artists and writers. We worry about how this could affect human creativity and the value of genuine human expression.
Moving Forward with Caution
As supporters of an eco-social transformation, we need to be careful about the tools we use. The same technologies that help us can also conflict with our principles if we're not careful. So we have tried to follow some rules when using AI to advance our cause. We committed to using AI tools sparingly and only when they truly help us in ways that align with our values or have major benefits towards the advancement of our cause, campaign or struggle. We also strongly felt a need to be open about our use of AI and its impacts, sharing regular updates and disclosures (like the one here). Lastly, there exist various open-source AI models that are more energy-efficient and better aligned with our ethical standards, which we have tried to use when possible.
It’s important to remember that those who preach growthism have no issues with using AI to further their agendas. We believe that, with caution, transparency and mindfulness, we can leverage these technologies to support our cause without compromising our values. Together, we can work towards a future that is just and regenerative.
Thank you for your understanding and support.