An exploration of AI governance through the lens of sustainability

The potential benefits of AI appear endless and capable of solving some of the most pressing issues today. They may further be especially important for the environmental emergency. However, the convergence of AI and the environmental sector is underexplored compared to other sectors, such as health, law, finance, etc. It remains, though, vastly under the radar of policymakers. That appears critical since AI can alleviate many environmental issues by contributing to the quality and effectiveness of regulation through practical applications in various industries. At the same time, AI poses the danger of significantly burdening the environment through excessive energy demands. The public discourse on AI and the international effort to regulate AI is mainly saturated with ethical attempts to bridge the conceptual gaps between human and artificial intelligence. Thus, we see the proliferation of Codes of Ethics and Principles for AI operation as the prevailing method for AI regulation with only recent legally binding acts efforts, with the US and the EU leading the way. The present study attempts to address the interconnection of AI and sustainability and examine how the current efforts for the regulation of AI respond to sustainability. We achieve that firstly by analyzing the potential benefits of AI within the environmental sector and the environmental governance, secondly by focusing on the efforts for the AI governance through principles and codes of ethics and how they respond to sustainability so far. Lastly, we examine the recently introduced Artificial Intelligence Act, the first legal framework for AI in the EU. Our purpose is to add to the current debate around AI governance from the lens of sustainability and highlight possible conceptual gaps and the importance of further research within the specific interrelation