AI Waste: Thinking through the Ecology and Politics of Digital Discards

This talk confronts an evident truth about contemporary generative text and image systems (so-called 'artificial intelligence'): much of what they make is trash. These systems produce both informational and environmental pollution at an unprecedented clip, sacrificing water, energy, informational commons, social trust, human cognitive skills, and carbon budgets in order to win some very questionable benefits that accrue disproportionately to certain kinds of people (namely managers, plagiarists, and underskilled dabblers). These outcomes merit refusal, resistance, and also explanation. Using a discard studies approach, we will attempt to analyse the current state of affairs through its wasting practices and explore the political coalitions that make trash AI the dominant form today.

Anne Pasek is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Media, Culture, and the Environment at Trent University. She studies the cultural politics of climate change, the environmental politics of the big tech, and the prospects of 'small tech' in contrast. Her books include Digital Energetics (Meson 2023) and Low-Carbon Research Methods (Goldsmiths 2025).

Further Resources
Anne Pasek Official Website
Book by Anne Pasek