Should we be ashamed of the seemingly trivial questions we ask AI every day? The energy consumption of artificial intelligence is skyrocketing. If current growth continues, AI will be responsible for no less than half of the world’s data centre capacity by the end of 2025.
In her book Is AI Good for the Planet?, Benedetta Brevini describes artificial intelligence not only as a technological revolution, but also as one of the greatest challenges of our time. In addition to its immense energy use, AI relies on scarce resources and operates on infrastructures that cut deep into the earth – and into human lives.
Together with Roel Dobbe, Brevini explores the planetary limits of this technology, the lack of transparency among developers, and the ways in which AI contributes to a new form of colonialism – where exploitation, data theft, and traumatizing click labour are part of the business model. How can we work towards a form of Green Digital Literacy and a radical revision of AI policies and investments, in which ecological protection is central and harmful, colonial structures are actively dismantled?