AI and Sustainability - a new project at WWU Münster

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Banana Plant Flask AI
Max Gruber / Better Images of AI / Banana / Plant / Flask / CC-BY 4.0
Fig.1. Banana Plant Flask AI
2022-05-13

A new interdisciplinary project on machine learning and artificial intelligence at WWU Münster.

The development of new applications of machine learning and "artificial intelligence"(AI) in the last decade has generated great expectations in the potential of these technologies, also concerning the transformation towards sustainability.

However, there is substantial controversy as to the net-benefit or -costs of these developments both on the ecological (e.g. energy and resource use) and social (e.g. polarization) side.

Against this background, a new research project at Doris Fuchs’ Chair at WWU University of Münster systematizes the state of the art on AI and sustainability, inquires into narrative framings of AI deployment in public and political discourse, and evaluates relevant governance strategies.

The work package is part of a larger interdisciplinary project on machine learning and AI situated at the University of Münster’s Center for Non-Linear Science (CENOS).

Doris Fuchs, WWU Münster

Image Source: Max Gruber / Better Images of AI / Banana / Plant / Flask / CC-BY 4.0