Powering intelligence - The environmental costs and opportunities of AI

This cross-disciplinary panel brings together expertise from research, business and policy to explore AI’s complex environmental footprint. We’ll examine the energy and water demands of expanding digital infrastructure, AI’s potential to solve environmental challenges, and the governance frameworks needed to balance innovation with sustainability.

Can AI help us discover less resource-intensive approaches to science and daily life? Or will its growth accelerate environmental pressures?

Join us for an accessible discussion that cuts through the hype to examine the real trade-offs, from data centre impacts to behavioural change, and consider how we can realise AI’s benefits in environmentally responsible ways.

Introduced and chaired by:

• Anne Trefethen FREng, Professor of Scientific Computing at the University of Oxford

Panellists:

• Dr Felippa Amanta, DPhil student in the Environmental Change Institute
• Dr Yee Van Fan, Senior Researcher in Digitalisation, Circular Economy and Net Zero Energy programme
• Dr Kevin Grecksch, Associate Professor of Water and Environmental Governance, School of Geography and the Environment

This event is part of the Kellogg College AI Learning Lecture Series, and is organised in collaboration with the AI Competency Centre.