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.
Author(s): Peter Dauvergne
Series: One Planet
Publisher: MIT Press
Year: 2020
Language: English
Pages: 272
City: Cambridge
Contents
Series Foreword
Preface
1: Introduction: Genius or Madness?
AI for Earth
A Game Changer?
The Hatred of Tay
A Critical Lens
Seeing the Dark Side of AI
The Book’s Contribution
The Arguments Ahead
In Search of Sustainability Pathways
I: The Global Political Economy of AI
2: Datafying Life on Earth
Datafication
The Internet of Things
Commodifying Data
Addicting Data Producers
Datafying Security
A Cascade of Data
3: The Rising Power of AI
The Big Business of AI
Big Tech in the United States
The Self-Driving Market
Servicing Social Media
Revolutionizing Retail
Big Tech in China
The AI Military-Industrial Complex
Artificial Intelligence in the Twenty-first Century
II: The Prospects and Limits of AI
4: Conserving and Rewilding the Earth
The Science of the Environment
Tracking Overfishing
Guarding the Rainforests
Protecting Wildlife
Saving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
Business Partnerships for AI Sustainability
The Political Economy of AI and Conservation
5: Enhancing Eco-Business
Eco-Energy at Google
Eco-Business at Amazon
Advancing CSR with AI
The Acceleration of Eco-Business
6: Smart Products
The Driverless Future
The Costs of Driving
A Future of Smart Homes
Upgrading to Smart Living
Mining for Smart Products
The E-Waste of Smart Living
The Political Economy of Smart Products
7: Smart Cities and Farms
Smart Cities
Smart Cities in China
The Limits of Smart Cities
The Prospects of Smart Agriculture
Smart Farm Equipment
The Limits and Risks of Smart Farming
The Limits of AI for Sustainability
III: The Dangers of AI
8: Deepening Inequality and Injustice
The Inequality of Earth Shares
The Social Inequality of AI
Machine Bias and Discrimination
Furthering Social Sustainability
9: Accelerating Extraction and Consumption
The Climate Crisis
AI and Climate Change
Mining the Earth with AI
The Problem of Consumption
Supercharging Consumerism
Turbocharging Profitability
10: The Intelligent Eyes of Repression
Suppressing Environmentalism
Watching the Public
The Globalization of Public Surveillance
Surveillance of the Online World
Tracking Digital Fingerprints
Activism and the Power of AI
11: Weapons of Destruction
An AI Superpower?
America’s AI Buildup
China: A Future AI Power?
The AI Power of Russia
The Diffusion of AI Weapons
Swarm Wars?
An AI Cold War?
12: Conclusion: Navigating the Shoals of Hubris
The Perils of Promethean Thinking
Toward State Governance of AI
Toward “Good” Private Governance of AI
The Movement for Responsible AI
Confronting AI Capitalism
Notes
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Further Reading
Artificial Intelligence (background)
Artificial Intelligence (conservation)
Artificial Intelligence (critiques)
Artificial Intelligence (culture and education)
Artificial Intelligence (employment)
Artificial Intelligence (history)
Artificial Intelligence (law)
Artificial Intelligence (optimistic visions)
Artificial Intelligence (weaponization of)
Big Data
Big Tech (critiques for a general audience)
Business and AI
Capitalism and Unsustainability
Cloud Computing
Deep Learning
Driverless Vehicles
Drone Warfare
Electric Vehicles
Ethics and AI
Fourth Industrial Revolution
Games and AI
Global Environmental Crisis
Global Environmental Governance
Global Environmental Politics
Internet of Things
Machine Learning
Online Addiction
Online Gaming
Online Retail Industry
Political Economy of the Environment
Private Environmental Governance
Reinforcement Learning
Robotics
Science and Technology Studies
Security and Digital Technology
Singularity
Smart Agriculture
Smart Cities
Social Media (Industry and Politics)
Surveillance
Sustainability (background)
Sustainability (and business)
Sustainability (and environmentalism)
Sustainability (pathways toward)
Technology (critiques)
Technology and Sustainability
Index
