Watch: The future of Artificial Intelligence

The EcoAction Committee of the Green Party of the United States held a discussion on the future of Artificial Intelligence on Monday, January 12, 2026. Note: Maureen Doyle is blurry at the beginning due to problems with her computer screen).

Three speakers led off the discussion – Gus Steeves, Violet Zitola and Andy Ellis - and then throw it open for comments and observations from attendees.

As generative artificial intelligence has entered the world in a capitalist and authoritarian whirlwind, we find ourselves in need of a leader to shape what an ethical and ecologically sustainable AI would look like in our future.

Currently generative AI use uses exuberant amounts of natural resources through the data centers needed to hold data and run massive computer farms, impacts local communities with heightened utility bills and pollution, sparking a "nuclear renaissance" to power hyperscale data centers, is being weaponized against the American people and immigrants through mass surveillance, and violating copywrite and consent ethics to steal content to capitalize on. There is the potential for significant job displacement due to automation. There are ethical concerns surrounding accountability and control. There is a concern about unfair or discriminatory outcomes in areas like facial recognition and the increasing military uses for AI.

There are many issues currently facing us with generative AI use, but what if we could show a positive, ethical, and sustainable way to run and use it? For example, using generative AI to achieve medical breakthroughs and climate analysis for mitigation and adaptation is a new horizon of hope.

Gus Steeves has been a journalist for more than 20 years, served in elected and appointed positions of local government in his hometown of Southbridge, Mass., for more than a decade, and has been Secretary, co-Chair and/or a State Committee member of the Mass. Green-Rainbow Party for the last few years. He doesn't claim to be an AI expert, just a well-read layman with serious concerns about how our culture is using technology, who controls it, and who benefits from or gets hurt by it. Describing himself as an "optimistic realist," he feels we have the creativity and intelligence to solve the problems that bedevil us -- including AI, climate, nuclear weapons, political corruption, and more -- but is not sure the inertia of the "powers that be" will let us do so effectively in time.

Violet Zitola suggests that a good video for an intro to AI though she does not agree with all of its points or recommendations. As he notes, "We must demand a democratic intervention from elected officials immediately that revises our whole system and economy into one that actually supports human values, creativity and independence to allow us to "build a life rather than a career."

Andy Ellis is seeking the Green Party nomination for Governor of Maryland. He has been a Green for over a decade and has served on local, state and national committees. After 15 years working in the corporate tech sector, he is co-founded True North Insights Collective, a consulting cooperative focused on helping small to medium size orgs and businesses navigate automation and AI that aligns with their values.

A couple of video links from Andy Ellis.

This is the story we did about the MD Anthropic deal

This is the Boston Review about The AI we deserve.

Watch: The future of Artificial Intelligence

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