Part two of our Electronics < > Ecologies discussion on ENERGY brings engineers' voices to the foreground, drawing on real examples of AI implementation and sustainability goal setting in the context of Big Tech.

The IT sector currently accounts for somewhere between 1-4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, with some scholars suggesting this will rise to at least 14% by 2040. These estimates predate the release of popular AI applications such as ChatGPT, which accelerate the uptake of energy-intensive computing habits. The current trajectory for AI development and deployment reflects generations of engineering training and business incentives that measured success in terms of size, accuracy and latency. But does AI need to be big to be effective? Are there other ways of implementing AI models? What does engineering look like beyond the energy infrastructure of West Coast North America? And how can sustainable computing exist in spite of the visions and business plans of dominant cloud companies?
Join us for 3 talks that explore these questions in theory and in practice.

Full Program

Image credit - Zane Griffin Talley Cooper