28. May 2021

World's first conference on Sustainable AI World's first conference on Sustainable AI

Researchers talk about ecological and social costs of artificial intelligence at a conference brought to you by the University of Bonn

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be an important tool for sustainable development to minimize energy usage in large factories or to predict natural disasters before they happen. However, these uses can also have a social and ethical downside. For example, training and tuning AI models produces carbon emissions that harm the environment. Or there are power asymmetries between people when not everyone gets access to the technology. At the world's first conference on the sustainability of artificial intelligence, researchers will discuss environmental, social and economic costs of designing, developing, and using AI from June 15 to 17. The virtual conference is launched by AI ethicist Prof. Aimee van Wynsberghe, Humboldt Professor at the University of Bonn. The conference is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Institute for Science and Ethics at the University of Bonn.

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“AI can benefit people, planet and industry if it is done right, with sustainability as the starting point rather than as an afterthought,” stresses Aimee van Wynsberghe. “This means that before we rush to use AI for everything we can think of, we need to understand the impact of this technology on the environment to avoid causing even more environmental damage.”

The aim of this Sustainable AI conference is to get researchers talking about the environmental, social and economic costs of designing, developing, and using AI. The discussion will be directed at exploring the normative grounding of the value of sustainability, the strength of the concept of sustainability, how to measure environmental costs of AI, understanding the intergenerational impacts of AI, and, informing public policy guidelines for the green, proportionate and sustainable development and use of AI. In other program sessions, participants will have the opportunity to engage with thought leaders in the field and the presentation of an art installation by Thijs Biersteker on the topic of Sustainable AI.

For the conference, Aimee van Wynsberghe and her team collected contributions from computer sciences, philosophy, (applied) AI ethics, social sciences, law and policy, and others.

More information and registration: https://www.sustainable-ai.eu

About the Humboldt Professorship:

Aimee van Wynsberghe holds a Humboldt Professorship for Applied Ethics of AI at the University of Bonn since February 1, 2021. She addresses both the concept of sustainability–what values should an AI society sustain and how–as well as the technical dimension, i.e. how to make sense of the environmental impact of different AI methodologies. She is receiving 3.5 million euros from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for this purpose. The professorship is closely linked to the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) "Individuals, Institutions and Societies" at the University of Bonn.

From June 15 to 17,
From June 15 to 17, - researchers talk about ecological and social costs of artificial intelligence. © COLOURBOX.de, All rights reserved

Prof. Aimee van Wynsberghe
Larissa Bolte
University of Bonn
info@sustainable-ai.eu

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