This is the second blog in the series. Join us to find out what librarians are thinking about the sustainable development.

As users, we do number of ethical choices when we use artificial intelligence. Often we may be concerned about the impact of use on the environment, but also the protection of privacy or copyright issues are much debated. The way we make choices, we can try to influence on how artificial intelligence is used and developed.

As a user, you could do choices in following manners, for example:

I want to choose, how my user data is handled. I don’t want my data to be used to train AI.

I use services where it is possible to disable AI features.

I use services that clearly state that the data is not used to train the AI.

Find tips on how to opt out AI features in different apps, for example from the page Transparency coalition.

I don’t want to use services that use content, such as research publications or images, without the author’s permission or compensation to the author.

I try to choose services where the AI tool is trained with the service’s own data. This may be, for example, a AI tool provided by a publisher, where the AI is trained using the material covered by the publishing agreement. Or a database, where as a basis for search results, AI uses metadata stored in the database instead of the full text of the publication.

I try to choose services where the information entered by the user is not used to train the AI.

I do not send entire publications or images to the AI service.

I do not use AI to produce an image or video material.

The legislation on copyright remunerations is still developing. At present, large language models do not take copyright into account, but let us hope that in the future, the transparency of training data maybe become a competitive advantage for companies in AI business. Read about the topic for example in an article by Adam Buick.

I want to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint when I search information, for example, for learning assignments.

I choose tools that allow me to get the job done faster. This reduces the time needed for the work and at the same time energy consumption.

I use tools, that consume as little energy as possible. For example, I choose tools that are designed for specific use or do not have large number of users. Find tips for sustainable use of AI, for example from UNDP web site.

When considering the use of AI, you can estimate energy consumption, for example, as follows: By using AI, the work takes half an hour. Without AI, the work takes six hours. Estimate, at what point the use of AI consumes less energy and in which situations the work is better to do without the AI.

However, please note that you need to take in consideration also assignment instructions and institution AI guidelines, when you use AI tools. Find more information for example from Lapland UAS guidelines.

More options for information retrieval

Information retrieval for academic writing can be time-consuming and require number of preliminary searches. You can reduce the time spent on exploring, to get to know the topic and keywords, when you use AI at the beginning of the search process. Extract search terms from the AI answers and the publications found from search results, and then use the terms in database searches. Search made in a database consumes less energy than using an AI tool.

You can start your search process also without AI tools. Plan your information search carefully in advance. Use mind map, break down the topic into search terms and make use of the thesaurus provided by the databases. Choose carefully also the search engines and tools: note that Google services are also highly energy-consuming.

Find more tips for information retrieval from library guides for example Oulu University Library guide Finding scientific information or Jyväskylä UAS Library Information Seeking Compass. Guides offer lot of information especially when you do searching in databases.

Have you familiarized yourself with the AI-assisted search service Keenious? How does the service look like in the terms of sustainable use?

References

Buick, A. (2025). Copyright and AI training data—transparency to the rescue? Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 20(3), 182–192. https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpae102

Jyväskylä UAS Library. (2025). Information Seeking Compass. https://infoguides.jamk.fi/InformationSeeking

Lapland UAS. (2025). Guidelines for responsible use of AI in learning and teaching. https://lapinamk.fi/en/lapland-uas/guidelines-for-utilizing-artificial-intelligence/

Oulu University Library. (2026). Finding scientific information. https://libguides.oulu.fi/scientific_information

United Nations Development Program. (2025). How UNDP is advancing sustainable use of Artificial Intelligence. Greening Moonshot. https://undpgreeningmoonshot.exposure.co/how-undp-is-advancing-sustainable-use-of-artificial-intelligence

Transparency coalition. (2025). TCAI Guide: How to stop your images and data from being used to train AI. AI News. https://www.transparencycoalition.ai/news/tcai-opt-out-guide-how-to-stop-ai-from-using-your-images-and-data