AI and the Environment: What We Know, What We Do Not, and How to Decide for Yourself (Raleigh-Durham Climate Week)

Depending on who you ask, AI is either wrecking the climate or about to fix it. Both can't be the whole story. Abigail Merrill from GrowthUp Partners will lead this interactive panel discussion on AI and the environment. This session brings several perspectives on AI and the environment, and gives you a way to weigh the costs and benefits of your own AI use so you can reach your own view.

After this session, you'll be able to:

• Locate where AI's environmental cost actually sits, and see how small your individual slice is next to the headlines
• Evaluate a claim critically by asking what was measured, by whom, and what got left out, using the "every prompt uses a bottle of water" headline broken into fact, fiction, and best practices
• Apply a cost and benefit analysis to your own AI use and to their organization's
• Leave with a point of view you can defend: where AI earns its cost, where it does not, and where you will use it more deliberately

Speakers

Abigail Merrill

Abigail Merrill is the CEO and Lead AI Consultant of GrowthUP Partners, a Certified AI Practitioner, and a human-centered AI strategist who helps organizations strengthen judgment, team performance, and customer impact through responsible AI integration. A two time founder with more than 15 years of experience in B2B, B2C, and regulated industries, she created AI for ROI™ to move teams from AI experimentation to measurable results, and the AI Personality Assessment™ to surface exactly where AI adoption breaks down on a team before lost resources. She is an active voice on human-centered AI literacy for all and an organizer of the AI for Women events in the RTP area.

Shawn Jones

Bio coming soon!