The role of artificial intelligence in achieving the SDGs

Abstract: The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and its progressively wider impact on many sectors requires an assessment of its effect on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Using a consensus-based expert elicitation process, we find that AI can enable the accomplishment of 134 targets across all the goals, but it may also inhibit 59 targets. However, current research foci overlook important aspects. The fast development of AI needs to be supported by the necessary regulatory insight and oversight for AI-based technologies to enable sustainable development. Failure to do so could result in gaps in transparency, safety, and ethical standards.

Bio: Ricardo Vinuesa is an Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering Mechanics, at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. He is also a Researcher at the AI Sustainability Center in Stockholm and Vice Director of the KTH Digitalization Platform. He received his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. His research combines numerical simulations and data-driven methods to understand and model complex wall-bounded turbulent flows, such as the boundary layers developing around wings, obstacles, or the flow-through ducted geometries. Dr. Vinuesa’s research is funded by the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the Swedish e-Science Research Centre (SeRC). He has also received the Göran Gustafsson Award for Young Researchers.