IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020 - 12

the intersection of technology, sustainability, and policy. The ideas and
discussions that emerged throughout
the workshop were captured by the
facilitators through graphics that are
featured throughout this special issue.
In this publication, we highlight perspectives from workshop participants
who are engaged, from different vantage points, at the intersection of the
sustainability and digital sectors. We
include articles from researchers
working on both the mechanics and
ethics of AI and machine learning,
analysts working on data and digital
governance, scientists studying environmental and human dimensions
of global environmental change, and
leaders from both the sustainability
and digital policy worlds.
The first two articles are products
of a year-long international collaboration of over 250 subject matter
experts on how to leverage the digital age to drive the transformative
systems changes needed to build a
climate-safe and equitable world. The
first article, "The Montreal Statement
on Sustainability in the Digital Age,"
is a direct product of the September
2019 CIFAR workshop. It is a collective statement of the workshop participants highlighting the urgency of
the climate crisis, the transformative
power of AI and other digital capabilities, and the profound risks and
opportunities of leveraging these
digital capabilities to tackle climate
change. The Montreal Statement outlines near-term actions needed to
overcome these risks and leverage
the transformative power of digital
capabilities to build a climate safe
and equitable world.
In the second article, Luers et al.
provide an overview of the "Digital
Disruptions for Sustainability Agenda"
(the D^2S Agenda) [13], released in
March 2020, which identifies priority
research, innovations, and actions
for driving transformative change
on climate. This article explores the

cusses the challenges ahead. She provides an overview of the implications
of decoupling carbon emission with
economic growth, and offers a practical
perspective on the transformational
potential of AI for the energy sector.
Luccioni et al. discuss the importance of tracking and communicating
the environmental impact of AI technologies. They provide an overview
of the factors involved in estimating
machine learning (ML) carbon emissions and present a tool for tracking
ML emissions (https://mlco2.github
.io/impact/). They propose concrete
actions that can be taken to reduce
the ML carbon footprint and call for
increased consideration of the carbon emissions of AI technologies.
Pitt et al. highlight the importance
of reflexivity in the ability of dominant social, economic, and political
institutions to adapt as they evolve.
They outline four dimensions of
reflexivity, each of which poses tensions between two drivers specific to
that dimension, and where the tensions in each dimension generally
rely on deliberative processes for an
outcome. They propose an algorithmic approach to the deliberative and
meta-deliberative processes required
for institutional reflexivity. More specifically, they provide a framework
for algorithmic reflexive governance
of interdisciplinary socio-techno-ecological systems, blending ideas from
AI and Democratic Theory at the in--
tersection of these systems.
Lahsen points out that while
mainstream academia highlights the
importance of public mobilization
for transformative policies, it fails
to acknowledge that transformative
change requires interventions in
the political economy of traditional
and new, AI-infused media. These
media and technologies are inherently infused with values and used
to serve political goals. Recognition
of this should spur action to ensure
that they are democratically governed

drivers of systems changes, rooting its analysis in Donella Meadows'
framework of leverage points for systems change. Luers et al. identify
potential digitally-empowered levers
for change within the dominant economic, governance, and cognitive
systems. These initial two articles
are followed by a collection of commentaries, opinion pieces, and analyses that elaborate on some of the
ideas in these initial two papers.
Havens offers a perspective on the
role of AI technologies, the concept of
exponential growth and environmental "techno solutionism" in determining metrics of success for humanity.
He points out the danger of applying
these technologies to address specific areas of environmental decline
at the expense of systems thinking.
He urges us to consider new metrics
of success that account for systems
thinking, and that include fundamental components of today's societal
infrastructure, namely those of caregiving and environmental health.
Messner discusses how AI technologies challenge humanism and
true democracy, and proposes the
need for Renewed Humanism resulting from the opportunities of the
digital age. He explores four perspectives to consider in the establishment
of Renewed Humanism. Within these
perspectives, Messner discusses
the humanistic principles emerging
from the Enlightenment that need
to be preserved, the blind spots
therein that can be built upon, the
implications of the evolving nature
of humans and machines as they
become increasingly intertwined,
and how to mobilize the potentials of
the digital age for a civilizational shift
towards Renewed Humanism.
Khareghani discusses the role of
AI technologies in U.K. policy and
economy. She highlights the work
being done by the U.K. government at
the intersection of AI, decarbonization
efforts, and climate change and disIEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

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JUNE 2020

https://mlco2.github.io/impact/ https://mlco2.github.io/impact/

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2020