AI in the Wild: Sustainability in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Peter Dauvergne

Abstract

Will artificial intelligence (AI) be the panacea of environmental governance in an age of planetary crisis? Can technology save us from ourselves? We already seem unable to curb our enthusiasm for consumption, which is further encouraged by “AI fueled advertisement ... set to turbocharge consumerism” (180). This is a core exploration in Peter Dauvergne’s book AI in the Wild. He examines the role of AI as a contributor of data, precision, trust, and efficiency of governance, in language that is accessible and at times reads like a novel, making you want to know more and keep turning pages. The examination spans crosssectoral topics from land to sea and considers the pros, cons, and in-betweens of the birth and rapid growth of AI in businesses, education, homes, environmental governance, and everywhere else. And you come to realize this almost immediately—AI is in everything we do, everywhere we go, all at once. And it can be used for amazing things, as Dauvergne points out, highlighting some of the genius ways in which AI is used precisely to advance humanity and rectify some of the damage we have inflicted on our environment. But the benefits of AI can also be used for all that’s bad in the world, and—spoiler alert—an important conclusion of the book is that AI will not save us. For Dauvergne, there seemingly is no way out of our current state of affairs within the contemporary global order, because AI cannot “overthrow the entrenched interests that are exploiting people and nature” (8). Though this impression permeates the book, Dauvergne does try to balance the book on the good side of the edge of despair as he also guides the reader through the benefits—and exploitation potentials—of AI. The book follows the use of AI in several different sectors spanning the themes of conservation, ecobusinesses, smart products, and smart cities and farms. It follows a similar pattern in each example—starting with emphasizing how it can benefit governance of a given sector with its use. AI canmonitor illegal logging of rainforests to alert managers faster, eradicate invasive species harmful to a given ecosystem using underwater robots with machine vision technology, empower police officers to identify and arrest ivory poachers in Africa with camera catch technology in parks,