Examining the potential benefits and risks of using artificial
intelligence to advance global sustainability.
Drones with night vision are tracking elephant and rhino poachers in
African wildlife parks and sanctuaries; smart submersibles are saving
coral from carnivorous starfish on Australia's Great Barrier Reef;
recycled cell phones alert Brazilian forest rangers to the sound of
illegal logging. The tools of artificial intelligence are being
increasingly deployed in the battle for global sustainability. And yet,
warns Peter Dauvergne, we should be cautious in declaring AI the
planet's savior. In AI in the Wild, Dauvergne avoids the AI
industry-powered hype and offers a critical view, exploring both the
potential benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence to advance
global sustainability.
Dauvergne finds that corporations and states often use AI in ways that
are antithetical to sustainability. The competition to profit from AI is
entrenching technocratic management, revving up resource extraction, and
turbocharging consumption, as consumers buy new smart devices (and
discard their old, less-smart ones). Smart technology is helping farmers
grow crops more efficiently, but also empowering the agrifood industry.
Moreover, states are weaponizing AI to control citizens, suppress
dissent, and aim cyberattacks at rival states.
Is there a way to harness the power of AI for environmental and social
good? Dauvergne argues for precaution and humility as guiding principles
in the deployment of AI.
