Dreaming of AI: environmental sustainability and the promise of participation

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dc.contributor.authorZehner, Nicolas
dc.contributor.authorUllrich, André
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-27T09:12:04Z
dc.date.available2024-08-27T09:12:04Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractThere is widespread consensus among policymakers that climate change and digitalisation constitute the most pressing global transformations shaping human life in the 21st century. Seeking to address the challenges arising at this juncture, governments, technologists and scientists alike increasingly herald artificial intelligence (AI) as a vehicle to propel climate change mitigation and adaptation. In this paper, we explore the intersection of digitalisation and climate change by examining the deployment of AI in government-led climate action. Building on participant observations conducted in the context of the “Civic Tech Lab for Green”—a government-funded public interest AI initiative—and eight expert interviews, we investigate how AI shapes the negotiation of environmental sustainability as an issue of public interest. Challenging the prescribed means–end relationship between AI and environmental protection, we argue that the unquestioned investment in AI curtails political imagination and displaces discussion of climate “problems” and possible “solutions” with “technology education”. This line of argumentation is rooted in empirical findings that illuminate three key tensions in current coproduction efforts: “AI talk vs. AI walk”, “civics washing vs. civics involvement” and “public invitation vs. public participation”. Emphasising the importance of re-exploring the innovative state in climate governance, this paper extends academic literature in science and technology studies that examines
dc.description.sponsorshipOpen Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This work was partly funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) under grant no. 16DII131 (“Deutsches Internet-Institut”).
dc.identifier.citationZehner, N., & Ullrich, A. (2024). Dreaming of AI: environmental sustainability and the promise of participation. AI & SOCIETY. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-02011-0
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s00146-024-02011-0
dc.identifier.issnissn:1435-5655
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.weizenbaum-library.de/handle/id/725
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsopen access
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectpublic interest ai
dc.subjectcivic tech
dc.subjectclimate change
dc.subjectgovernance
dc.subjectcitizen participation
dc.subjectsustainability
dc.titleDreaming of AI: environmental sustainability and the promise of participation
dc.typeArticle
dc.type.statuspublishedVersion
dcmi.typeText
dcterms.bibliographicCitation.urlhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-024-02011-0
local.researchgroupDigitalisierung, Nachhaltigkeit, Teilhabe
local.researchtopicDigitale Technologien in der Gesellschaft
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