Beyond the Prompt: The Social Costs of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Authors

• J. Scott Christianson
• Josh Rickard

Abstract

The rapid commercialization of generative artificial intelligence has produced extraordinary value for technology companies while systematically externalizing costs onto society. This Article provides a review of these externalities across three domains: environmental, human health, and digital infrastructure. The environmental burden includes massive energy and water consumption alongside ecologically destructive mining for rare earth elements and accelerating electronic waste. The human toll encompasses a documented pattern of AI-induced mental health crises, including suicide and self-harm linked to anthropomorphic chatbot design, raising novel questions of product liability in cases like Garcia v. Character.AI. The digital commons face degradation through industrialized data scraping enabled by the Ninth Circuit’s hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn decision, which effectively stripped platforms of their primary defense under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This Article argues that the AI industry’s business model is predicated on a fundamental market failure: the privatization of benefit and socialization of cost. Until the costs of extraction, defense, and human harm are borne by those who generate the risk, the AI revolution will continue to levy an uncompensated tax on the broader economy.

First Page

1

Recommended Citation

J. S. Christianson & Josh Rickard, Beyond the Prompt: The Social Costs of Generative Artificial Intelligence, 10 Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev. 1 (2026).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/betr/vol10/iss1/4