Reconsidering Conversational Norms in LLM Chatbots for Sustainable AI
Large Language Model (LLM)–based chatbots have become central interfaces in technical, educational, and analytical domains, supporting tasks such as code reasoning, problem solving, and information exploration. As these systems scale, sustainability concerns have intensified, with most assessments focusing on model architecture, hardware efficiency, and deployment infrastructure. However, existing mitigation efforts largely overlook how user interaction practices themselves shape the energy profile of LLM-based systems. In this vision paper, we argue that interaction-level behavior is an underexamined factor shaping the environmental impact of LLM-based systems, and we outline this issue across four dimensions. First, extended conversational patterns increase token production and raise the computational cost of inference. Second, expectations of instant responses limit opportunities for energy-aware scheduling and workload consolidation. Third, everyday user habits contribute to cumulative operational demand in ways that are rarely quantified. Fourth, the accumulation of context affects memory requirements and reduces the efficiency of long-running dialogues. Addressing these challenges requires rethinking how chatbot interactions are designed and conceptualized, and adopting perspectives that recognize sustainability as partly dependent on the conversational norms through which users engage with LLM-based systems.
Mon 13 AprDisplayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change
16:00 - 17:25 | |||
16:00 40mKeynote | Keynote speech — The Fall-Off of Bots in Software Engineering BoatSE | ||
16:40 15mTalk | Reconsidering Conversational Norms in LLM Chatbots for Sustainable AI BoatSE Ronnie de Souza Santos University of Calgary, Cleyton Magalhaes Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Italo Santos University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa Pre-print | ||
16:55 15mTalk | Patterns of Bot Participation and Emotional Influence in Open Source Development BoatSE Matteo Vaccargiu University of Cagliari, Riccardo Lai University of Cagliari, Maria Ilaria Lunesu Università degli studi di Cagliari, Andrea Pinna University of Cagliari, Giuseppe Destefanis University College London | ||
17:10 15mTalk | Bita: A Conversational Assistant for Fairness Testing BoatSE Keeryn Johnson University of Calgary, Cleyton Magalhaes Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Ronnie de Souza Santos University of Calgary Pre-print | ||