Thank you all for the suggestions. After thinking a bit more about it, I think I am going to:
Work mostly from my own photos and free stock images rather than generating from scratch.
Still use an AI agent for minor editing, collage, and text overlay on those images.
For posters, design the layout myself. Then generate a simple background based on that design. Use agents to add text overlay, QR code etc to finish.
After some digging, I do agree that AI image generation’s environmental impact is much less than, say, eating a burger. Still, I’ll generate fewer variants than I used to. It’s almost always good to be frugal in terms of consumption!
Thank you all for the suggestions. After thinking a bit more about it, I think I am going to:
Work mostly from my own photos and free stock images rather than generating from scratch.
Still use an AI agent for minor editing, collage, and text overlay on those images.
For posters, design the layout myself. Then generate a simple background based on that design. Use agents to add text overlay, QR code etc to finish.
After some digging, I do agree that AI image generation’s environmental impact is much less than, say, eating a burger. Still, I’ll generate fewer variants than I used to. It’s almost always good to be frugal in terms of consumption!
Here are some sources I found:
https://morethanmeatstheeye.substack.com/p/ai-water-use-vs-animal-agriculture
https://blog.andymasley.com/p/individual-ai-use-is-not-bad-for
https://news.mit.edu/2025/explained-generative-ai-environmental-impact-0117