Sustainable AI Conference 2023

Sustainable AI Conference 2023 - Sustainable AI Across Borders

Looking back: Sustainable AI Conference 2023 – Sustainable AI Across Borders

From 30th May to 1st June 2023, the Bonn Sustainable AI Lab organized its second conference dedicated to the topic of Sustainable AI with the theme Sustainable AI Across Borders. The conference brought a truly global perspective on AI with 94 speakers from 27 different countries, almost half of the speakers being female. The conference kicked off with a welcome from the lab’s director, Prof. Dr Aimee van Wynsberghe, and continued with welcomes from Rector Magnificus Michael Hoch, deputy Mayor Dr Ursula Sautter, and Member of the European Parliament Alexandra Geese. Over the three days, the four incredible keynote speakers opened our eyes to a variety of topics including: the need to resist thinking of AI as a magic wand, the understanding that environmental justice issues of AI reach far beyond just carbon emissions, the danger of AI exacerbating (post-)colonial dependencies, and an exploration of what virtues we, as a society, need to cultivate to get out of the current ‘mess’ surrounding AI design, development, use and hype in general.

There were too many highlights of the conference to put in one short reflection but important to note was the gender and AI panel in which Prof. Hanna Meißner from the German Association for Gender Studies, the founder of Women in AI and Robotics Sheila Beladinejad, and research fellow Modestha Mensah explored the impact AI is having on conceptions of ‘beauty’ across the globe. Prof. Dr. Aimee van Wynsberghe sat on stage with Jan Kleijssen, former director of the Council of Europe, to discuss what the Council of Europe is doing to address AI’s risks to human rights violations and how this differs from the European Union’s approach (i.e. the AI Act). Of equal importance was the panel of artists discussing the need for art-science collaborations to explore new ways of framing the problem and/or understanding AI’s impact on the world.

Beyond these major events, which took place in the main lecture hall, three additional parallel tracks featured 71 talks during the three conference days. Their grouping in topical sessions facilitated orientation. The variety of sessions reflects the variety of the conference: More theoretical sessions on conceptual foundations were featured as well as more action-oriented discussions about governance or corporate social responsibility. Somewhere in between were sessions about social justice, decolonialism, narratives, and many more.

The conference was about creating a community of researchers exploring the topic of Sustainable AI from a variety of perspectives and we did just that. People connected with one another both during sessions and afterwards, stimulating conversations were had throughout all three days both on- and off-stage. After a year of working towards this conference the team is excited for a break but looks forward to welcoming the community back to Bonn for the next conference in 2025!