Key findings indicate limitations
Surveying counties with populations as varied as Los Angeles County, California, with a population of 10,019,635, and Loving County, Texas, with a population of 83, the generative AI tool showed a capacity to identify location-specific environmental justice challenges in large, high-density population areas. However, the tool was limited in its ability to identify and provide contextualized information on local environmental justice issues.
— ChatGPT was able to provide location-specific information about environmental justice issues for just 515 of the 3018 counties entered, or 17 percent
— In rural states such as Idaho and New Hampshire, more than 90 percent of the population lived in counties that could not receive local-specific information
— In states with larger urban populations such as Delaware or California, fewer than 1 percent of the population lived in counties that cannot receive specific information.