Take Your Head Out of the Clouds: Examining the Socio-Environmental Materiality of AI and 'the Cloud'

  • Workshop
  • Living Room
  • Friday 23.05 — 10:30 - 11:45

Organising Institution

EU AI and Society Fund & European Digital Rights (EDRi)

Europe

Artificial intelligence hype is at an all-time high. Public and private spending aims to make Europe ‘the AI continent’, and AI tools are posited as the solution to all our problems. While civil society have long critiqued the lack of human rights concerns in these technosolutionist narratives, we need to do more to challenge the severe effects of AI technologies on the environment and climate. This workshop brings together researchers and advocates in the digital rights and climate justice space with those looking to expand their understanding of the problem and strategise about how we can collectively work towards a more just digital future. We will create an informal space where participants engage in a critical reflection on the material relationship between the struggle for climate justice and the proliferation of data centers, extraction of raw materials and labour exploitation that underpin the drive for AI innovation at any cost.