AI ethics: A framework for measuring embodied carbon in AI systems

Abstract

This paper outlines the ethical implications of AI from a climate perspective. So far, much of the discussion around AI ethics have focused on bias, unexplainable outcomes, privacy and other social impacts of such systems. The role and contribution of AI towards climate change and the ethical implications of its contribution to an unjust distribution of impact on the planet, humans and flora and fauna have not yet been covered in detail within the technical community. Within this paper, we aim to raise some of the issues of AI associated with climate justice and we propose a framework that will allow the AI and ICT industries to measure their true impact on the planet, propose an organisational structure to take this work forward and propose future research areas for this important topic.