The AI–SDG nexus revisited: Critical reflections and future directions

This short commentary builds on our previous work (Nasir et al., 2023), which introduced a four-vantage-point framework—economic, social, environmental, and ethical—for analyzing how Artificial Intelligence (AI) aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In that study, we used a mixed-methods, data-driven approach to assess alignment across five key document sets, revealing an overrepresentation of economic goals (e.g., SDG 9) and underrepresentation of equity, ecological, and governance-related goals. In this commentary, we reflect on those findings and situate them within wider debates on sustainable AI, drawing on systems theory, critical complexity, and normative critiques of technocratic paradigms (i.e., expert-driven systems). Rather than treating AI as a purely technical driver of progress, we highlight its dependence on institutional values, governance structures, and embedded worldviews. We argue for a paradigm-aware, ethically grounded reimagining of AI development—one that embraces pluralism, justice, and care.