Is AI the new plastic—ubiquitous, convenient, and quietly damaging? As AI takes over key parts of the assessment journey, from question generation to marking at scale, its true environmental cost remains largely unexamined. In this session, we’ll dive into the unseen footprint of AI: from the immense energy and water consumption of data centres to the multiplying effect of scaled usage. With e-assessment often branded as the "green alternative," it's time to ask if that still holds in an AI-powered world. Let’s move beyond hype to build a shared understanding—and responsibility—for AI’s downstream impact.