AI’s Impact on Sustainability Targets: A Cross-Country NCA and fsQCA Study

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is driving significant advancements in sustainability across nations. In light of AI’s benefits, recent studies emphasize the need for nations to develop comprehensive AI strategies that prioritize achieving SDG-related objectives. However, AI development is a complex sociotechnical process, with interconnected components influencing a country’s capability in AI. Given AI’s rising strategic significance for nations, we examine how dimensions of a nation’s AI capacity converge to facilitate sustainability advances. Using a cross-country configurational analysis comprising 59 nations, we identify six necessary conditions and three distinct configurations that influence a nation’s overall progress toward achieving the SDGs. The results underscore the relatively prominent role of access infrastructure and an operating environment underpinned by AI regulations in contributing to SDG progress. The comparatively lower significance of commercial ventures and AI talent highlights that sustainability efforts of ventures such as AI start-ups must balance social and environmental aspects with economic goals, while AI talent, in conjunction with other factors such as foundational platforms, can help drive innovative AI projects to advance SDG goals. A supplementary analysis helps discern how economic development and urbanization interact with other dimensions of a nation’s AI capacity to advance sustainability endeavors. The study renews focus on sustainability in IS research and contributes to the scholarly discourse on Responsible AI and Green IS. The results also nudge AI practitioners and policymakers to prioritize their efforts in advancing progress toward SDGs, specifically exploring AI’s potential to enhance and expedite these efforts.