Technology for good? AI, hubris and the environmental costs of big data - Media Whatever Podcast with Sebastián Lehuedé episode artwork

EPISODE · Jul 25, 2025 · 51 MIN

Technology for good? AI, hubris and the environmental costs of big data - Media Whatever Podcast with Sebastián Lehuedé

from Media Whatever · host MCI Media Lab

In the final episode of this academic year, hosts Chris Bilton and Carolina Bandinelli talk to Sebastián Lehuedé about the environmental costs of AI. AI’s data centres generate carbon emissions and burn through rare minerals, but these hidden environmental costs are often ignored, offshored to remote locations. At the same time, hubristic claims that AI can solve environmental problems from Google and other big tech companies don’t quite measure up. Perhaps we need a more humble yet ambitious approach to AI, recognising its limitations and costs as well as its undoubted benefits. Sebastián Lehuedé is a lecturer in Ethics, AI and Society at Kings College London. He examines AI from a social justice perspective and has published extensively on data colonialism, the ethics of data extraction and the relationship between AI, ‘technology for good’ and the environment.You can watch our CMPS Seminar Series on our YouTube Channel - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Link⁠

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Technology for good? AI, hubris and the environmental costs of big data - Media Whatever Podcast with Sebastián Lehuedé

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