Initial commit: AI conversation impact methodology and toolkit

CC0-licensed methodology for estimating the environmental and social
costs of AI conversations (20+ categories), plus a reusable toolkit
for automated impact tracking in Claude Code sessions.

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+# AI Conversation Impact
+
+A framework for estimating the full cost of conversations with large
+language models — environmental, financial, social, and political — and
+tools for tracking that cost over time.
+
+## Why
+
+A single long conversation with a frontier LLM consumes on the order of
+100-250 Wh of energy, emits 30-80g of CO2, and costs $500-1000 in
+compute. Most of this cost is invisible to the user. This project makes
+it visible.
+
+## What's here
+
+- **[impact-methodology.md](impact-methodology.md)** — A methodology
+  covering 20+ cost categories, from inference energy to cognitive
+  deskilling to political power concentration. Includes positive impact
+  metrics (reach, counterfactual, durability) and a net impact rubric.
+
+- **[impact-toolkit/](impact-toolkit/)** — A ready-to-install toolkit
+  for [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/claude-code) that automatically
+  tracks token usage, energy, CO2, and cost on each context compaction.
+  Includes a manual annotation tool for recording positive impact.
+
+- **[CLAUDE.md](CLAUDE.md)** — Instructions for an AI assistant to
+  pursue net-positive impact: estimate costs before acting, maximize
+  value per token, multiply impact through reach, and be honest when
+  the arithmetic doesn't work out.
+
+## Install the toolkit
+
+```bash
+cd your-project
+/path/to/impact-toolkit/install.sh
+```
+
+See [impact-toolkit/README.md](impact-toolkit/README.md) for details.
+
+## Limitations
+
+Most estimates have low confidence. Many of the most consequential costs
+(deskilling, data pollution, power concentration) cannot be quantified.
+The quantifiable costs are almost certainly the least important ones.
+This is a tool for honest approximation, not precise accounting.
+
+## Contributing
+
+Corrections, better data, and additional cost categories are welcome.
+The methodology has known gaps — see Section 21 for what would improve
+the estimates.
+
+## License
+
+[CC0 1.0 Universal](LICENSE) — public domain. No restrictions on use.