Dynamic Tagging: Tracking Energy Usage on Large Language Models; Volkswagen Dieselgate: A Virtue Ethics Analysis

This portfolio contains a technical report on an energy tracking system for large language models, and an STS research paper analyzing the Volkswagen Dieselgate case from a virtue ethics lens. Additionally, included in this portfolio is a sociotechnical synthesis and prospectus that tie the concepts together and discuss the importance the relationship between society and technology. My technical report describes a project I worked on during my internship at Leidos. I worked on the climate solutions team, and collaborated with two others on a dynamic tagging system. This system recorded energy usage of any "runs" of a particular Python program. With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), this tool can be useful to track how much energy has been consumed while querying an AI model. By the end of the internship, my team and I had a functional back-end working for this tool, but hoped to expand to a front-end/customer friendly model.The report goes in depth on how the tool works, and any future work that can be done to improve the project. Complementing this, the STS research paper examines the ethical behaviors within Volkswagen’s corporate culture, emphasizing how they failed to uphold core engineering virtues, and their impact on the environment and society. It was discovered that Volkswagen had manipulated vehicle emissions data using defeat devices, which would identify when the cars were being put under tests or not. Rather than upholding government environmental standards, Volkswagen engineers chose to deceive the government and public, lacking in transparency, accountability, and integrity. Instead, the company prioritized short-term financial gain over long term environmental and societal impact. The STS research paper analyzes how the company and their engineers specifically failed from a societal perspective. Together, these works highlight how ethical considerations can and should shape technological innovation.