AI provides opportunities for the future, but at what cost?
When used correctly, AI offers significant benefits. The AI machinery that generates language, images, and much more is impressive and increasingly useful in daily life. AI solves medical puzzles that heal more and more people. AI contributes to more efficient production and distribution of renewable energy, more effective use of material resources, and much more. I am personally involved in a project where AI is used to enhance learning processes among underprivileged children that have fallen behind normal progression in school. This project aims to help these young people, potentially at risk of social exclusion, to find new opportunities in the workforce.
But the development and use of AI also hurts. AI consumes an increasing share of the planet’s resources, and the growth of this consumption is unsustainably high. What is happening, and what needs to be done?
The University of Oslo puts green AI on the agenda
The answer to these questions is complex and requires increased knowledge across a wide range of scientific disciplines. The University of Oslo (UiO) is actively engaged in this topic and proposes that these and other related questions should feature prominently in future AI research. But this challenge goes beyond AI alone. Norway’s largest computer science environment – the Department of Informatics at UiO – has established a plan for green informatics.
How do we create sustainable progress for everyone?
In collaboration with The Guild, an alliance of 21 research-intensive universities where UiO is a member, we have proposed political and professional measures to make digitalisation more sustainable. A key point is that investment in fundamental, long-term research – both within digitalization and across scientific disciplines – is necessary to ensure a fair green transition that includes everyone, everywhere.
Is it possible to reconcile economic growth and climate action?
These questions require a broad approach. I can’t cover everything that UiO is doing in this field here, but I want to highlight the challenges related to economic growth. My colleague Kristin Asdal sheds light on this in a column in Dagens N?ringsliv (DN). How can we achieve or create (economic) growth while also tackling climate challenges, protecting vulnerable nature, and, in many cases, restoring ecosystems? This is one of the most pressing issues in the work toward a fair green transition.
“The Future of Energy is green and digital” – January 9, 2025
I will address this topic at the opening of the conference “The Future of Energy is green and digital”, which will be held at the Georg Sverdrup Building at Blindern on January 9, 2025. Read more about the conference here.
This conference addresses one of the most important issues of our time, so please ATTEND – not only to listen but also to contribute to finding the best solutions for a sustainable future for everyone, everywhere.
In the meantime, I recommend that you visit Universitetsplassen and listen to the podcast (in Norwegian) featuring Jun Elin Wiik (SINTEF) and Geir Horn (UiO), brilliantly moderated by the driving force behind the conference, Vebj?rn Bakken, who leads UiO’s initiative on energy and the environment.
Hope to see you at Blindern on January 9!