Representing the Faculty of Social Sciences (Gil-Clavel) alongside the School of Business and Economics and the Faculty of Science (Toczé), the researchers won the grant for their collaborative project “But How Are They Related? GenAI Development and its Planetary Costs.”
This interdisciplinary initiative bridges communication science, economics, and computer science to address a critical societal challenge that aligns directly with the ASI research clusters on Behaviour and Governance, and Climate Change and Energy Transition. The core objective centers on a major contemporary challenge: while generative AI technologies are becoming increasingly pervasive in daily life, users often lack awareness regarding their true environmental footprints. Through this grant, the research team aims to design an interactive, virtual serious game based on Life Cycle Assessment approaches. The game will introduce users to both production phase impacts, looking at the footprint of raw materials, and use phase impacts, eg. the heavy electricity and water consumption of AI models. It will even incorporate practical digital choices, such as how phrasing prompts differently or changing response times can directly influence energy consumption. By simplifying these complex socio-technical systems into an engaging digital environment, the project is designed to enhance cognitive elaboration and help individuals internalize sustainable digital habits.
The project will run from September 1st, 2026, to June 30th, 2027. The team will translate traditional onsite game mechanics into an accessible virtual environment, making it easier to reach a representative sample and test the tool's effectiveness. They will subsequently utilize a rigorous within-subjects survey design to evaluate lasting attitude changes and learning outcomes, measuring if the game can truly empower VU students to reduce their technology usage frequency. Reviewers highly praised the project's original use of a virtual serious game to create awareness, and we look forward to seeing the project evolve, and of course to playing the game ourselves!