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«Apocalypse or ally? Managing AI to advance sustainability

Capturing the benefits and minimizing the risks of artificial intelligence will require practical measures that build confidence and trust».

By Terry F. Yosie     - Leia aqui

De lá:

«By now, the critics and proponents of artificial intelligence (AI) have our attention. For the past several months there has been a steady downpour of analyses and claims that range from AI presenting a "risk of extinction … alongside other societal scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war" to finding miraculous medical breakthroughs through searches of "genetic haystacks."

One thing is for sure: AI has not suddenly appeared, even though the behavior of hedge funds and other investors and the financial press might cause you to think otherwise. Like most major technological innovations, AI has been on an evolutionary path for some time.

Similar to its growing impacts on the economy and other aspects of social life, AI will stimulate a rethinking of its relationship to sustainability. AI will confer a series of societal benefits, while also embedding the possibility of major disruptions and risks.

What sustainability benefits can we expect from AI?  

There are several major benefit categories from investing in and applying AI technologies. They include:

• Unifying public health and environmental data. The continuing degradation of biodiversity and related aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems from human activities has yielded an outcome in which human health can no longer be sufficiently protected, as environmental support systems necessary for human life — air, land and water — continue to deteriorate. The promise of AI and related digital technologies lies in the fact that both nature and human infrastructure are increasingly rich sources of data, and effectively designed data-based algorithms can enable decision-makers at all levels to detect changes in viability and status at both specific sites (ecosystems, cities) and at the system level. These insights can create new opportunities for problem prevention and remediation. (...)».