Integrity and Sustainability

Wednesday, November 12, 2025
by Alina Zahid, Academic Integrity Assistant

Integrity and Sustainability

Do you know how much energy a single AI prompt can eat up?  Generating a 3-second AI video from text is almost equal to streaming an HD Netflix movie/show for an hour (What Uses More? Compare the environmental footprint of digital tasks, n.d). 

Hey everyone! My name’s Alina and I want to dive deeper into talking about how we start to embrace generative AI (GenAI) in our academic work — the importance of how our choices influence not just the quality of our education, but also the sustainability of the digital tools we rely on.  

Currently, I’m a staff member and student at the University of Waterloo, working in the Office of Academic Integrity. Academic integrity at Waterloo is built on six core values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage (The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity Third Edition, n.d.). Most of the time we talk about those in terms of Policy 71 and academic work; but, the same values apply to GenAI usage too.   

  • Honesty means saying when GenAI helped, whether that be citing in-text, in your references, or as directed by your instructor. If the work came from a bot, don’t present it like your own. 

  • Trust is following the assignment rules about GenAI. If the prof said “AI can be used for brainstorming only,” then only use it to brainstorm. 

  • Fairness means not using GenAI as an advantage when others were told not to use it. Everyone should have equal opportunities! 

  • Respect means not pasting slides, course notes, assignments, exams, or anyone’s Intellectual Property (IP) into a GenAI tool without the owner/author’s consent.  

  • Responsibility is taking the time to check if GenAI’s output is accurate and bias-free and represents your own knowledge. 

  • Courage is saying no when a classmate, group member, or friend wants to drop an entire assignment into ChatGPT and reporting unethical GenAI use to your TA or instructor. 

So where does energy and sustainability come into all of this GenAI talk?  

Ethical GenAI usage isn’t only “did I plagiarize?”; it can also be “did I overuse a tool I didn’t need?”.  A single, well-written prompt compared to a dozen nearly identical prompts can help reduce an environmental toll. We’re discovering that GenAI can have a negative environmental footprint; it’s our job to manage our personal contribution to sustainability through ethical use. 

Integrity means using GenAI transparently, within course rules, and not more than you need, because your choices not only affect academic integrity at Waterloo but also, our planet too. 

References:  

The Fundamental Values of Academic Integrity Third Edition. (n.d.) International Centre for Academic Integrity. Retrieved November 10, 2025, from https://wordpress.kpu.ca/authenticassessment/files/2022/05/20019_ICAI-Fundamental-Values_R11.pdf 

What Uses More? Compare the environmental footprint of digital tasks. (n.d.). What-Uses-More.com. Retrieved November 10, 2025, from https://what-uses-more.com/