Joanna Boehnert and Alistair Alexander
AI can be seen as the ultimate and most extreme manifestation of extractive technological accelerationism. The prodigious energy demands of running AI infrastructure threaten to eclipse the decarbonisation agenda, as the construction of new data centres multiplies energy use. The AI & Digital sector is one of five sectors under review in the Transition Templates: Pathways to Net Zero+ research project. Transition Template (TT) maps decarbonisation pathways in a four-step process. In this report, we describe how we use this preliminary TT process, as described in greater detail in a second RSD13 TT report, to map energy pathways for the AI & Digital sector. AI & digital futures will be determined by the material and energy requirements of digital technologies to a degree that remains underexplored. Using tools including the Transition Templates Four Future Framework (TT-FFF), the research focuses attention on the ecological context and consequences of AI & Digital in ways that explore the aspirations and promises of AI while considering boundaries of resource and energy requirements. We focus on any possible decarbonisation of the sector, while keeping in mind how this sector’s energy demands impact the renewable energy requirements of other sectors. The TT Four Future Framework pushes the AI & Digital Net Zero+ enquiry into space for our (hoped-for) capacity for planetary regeneration.
KEYWORDS: AI, digital, futures, climate change, decarbonisation, net zero, mapping, templates, transitions, pathways, transition design, systemic design, futures