Sustainability in the digital age: Environmental Impacts of AI Systems

Welcome to the "Sustainability in the Digital Age" series Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers transformative potential across industries, but its development and deployment come with environmental costs. The course covers topics such as the carbon footprint of AI models, methods for measuring and reporting environmental impacts, and challenges in estimating the sustainability of AI technologies. Students will gain insights into energy and carbon accounting, along with case studies demonstrating how AI’s environmental footprint is assessed. The course aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between AI and the environment, equipping learners with knowledge to contribute to more sustainable AI practices. This course is part of the Sustainability in the Digital Age series, a collaborative project between colleagues from Stanford University, SAP and the Hasso Plattner Institute.