Artificial Intelligence and Sustainable Development, 4 credits

Artificial intelligence is expected to bring major transformative changes to all sectors of society. This change offers great opportunities in the work towards a more sustainable society, but the new technology also comes with risks and problems. Sweden has a stated political ambition to be a world leader in AI, while also aiming to be a leader in the climate transition. Are these goals compatible? Which factors in AI will contribute to sustainable development and which risk contributing to reduced sustainability, environmentally, socially and economically?

In this course, we study AI from a sustainability perspective and explore how the new technology can both promote sustainability and reduce it, depending on how it is used. We read about the problems that have existed around AI so far, such as bias in datasets, surveillance, concentration of ownership around tools and models, but also about how the new technology has enabled improvements from a social and environmental perspective. We discuss the emerging field of “smart farming” where AI is used to optimise cultivation and also look at how the new technology can improve nature conservation in vulnerable areas.

The background to studying AI from a sustainability perspective in this course is the UN’s sustainability goals for the 2030 Agenda, as well as the international community’s commitment to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. We also study the work of regulating and creating policies for safe AI use, not least in the EU.