As Europe ponders pouring billions of public funds into AI, this collection attempts to reorient the EU’s industrial policy away from its current trajectory of further entrenching big tech’s dominance in the market––and outlines alternative pathways forward.
Myths about AI create a policy vacuum in which unsustainable and unjust systems flourish and necessary policy interventions are delayed.
Boosters of AI argue that the environmental costs of the technology are acceptable for the benefits they offer. However, one should be wary of the rhetorical tactics used to defer meaningful climate action, known as discourses of delay. This is an old story where the institutional pathology of neoliberalism tries to redirect attention, delay action, and dilute interventions away from truly transformative change.
Our chapter unpacks several prevailing myths about AI and sustainability, which we hope will equip policymakers with a more balanced take.
AI Now Institute has published a new collection of essays setting out to inform Europe’s industrial policy for AI.
As Europe ponders pouring billions of public funds into AI, this collection attempts to reorient the EU’s industrial policy away from its current trajectory of further entrenching big tech’s dominance in the market––and outlines alternative pathways forward.
I wrote a chapter with Fieke Jansen to call out predatory delay and busts the myths about “AI for sustainability.” We call for Europe to reframe what it means to be innovative and center environmental justice in its industrial policy.
Some excepts:
Boosters of AI argue that the environmental costs of the technology are acceptable for the benefits they offer. However, one should be wary of the rhetorical tactics used to defer meaningful climate action, known as discourses of delay. This is an old story where the institutional pathology of neoliberalism tries to redirect attention, delay action, and dilute interventions away from truly transformative change.
Our chapter unpacks several prevailing myths about AI and sustainability, which we hope will equip policymakers with a more balanced take.
Myths of AI and Sustainability
Read the rest of our chapter and the full report.
Thank you to the AI Now team for curating this and including the climate perspective!