Ethical AI and the Environment

Abstract

Scientists have warned of the effects of global climate change for decades, and its impacts are increasingly experienced and understood worldwide. Despite calls to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and resources in general, many believe in corporate and governmental ability to ‘innovate out’ of climate catastrophe. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a common theme among nearly all existing and upcoming technological climate solutions, however, AI’s environmental impacts are relatively unknown. This paper first highlights a few examples of how AI systems can help fight climate change and follows with an analysis of the various negative environmental implications driven by the need for greater computing power, and a general lack of AI governance policies. By analyzing existing literature and policy structures, this review finds that the most responsible methods to avoid cataclysmic climate impacts involve reducing our reliance on existing infrastructures, which propagate rising global temperatures, rather than relying on untested, saviour technologies.