The Future of AI Research report, published in March 2025, aims to clearly identify the trajectory of AI research in a structured way. The report was led by outgoing AAAI President Francesca Rossi and covers 17 different AI topics . Members of the report team, and other selected AI practitioners, are taking part in a series of video panel discussions covering selected chapters from the report. In the fourth panel, the AI experts tackle the topic of AI and sustainability, exploring the critical balance between harnessing AI's potential and managing its environmental impact. They talk about: the growth of AI and its impact on infrastructure, looking beyond energy use, AI for accelerating breakthroughs, and strategies for investing in grid capacity and innovations.

As artificial intelligence (AI) and sustainability initiatives increasingly intersect, understanding public perceptions of their relationship becomes crucial for successful implementation. However, no validated instrument exists to measure these specific perceptions. This paper presents the development and validation of the Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability Perceptions Inventory (AISPI), a novel 13-item instrument measuring how individuals view the relationship between AI advancement and environmental sustainability. Through factor analysis (N=105), we identified two distinct dimensions: Twin Transition and Competing Interests. The instrument demonstrated strong reliability (alpha=.89) and construct validity through correlations with established measures of AI and sustainability attitudes. Our findings suggest that individuals can simultaneously recognize both synergies and tensions in the AI-sustainability relationship, offering important implications for researchers and practitioners working at this critical intersection. This work provides a foundational tool for future research on public perceptions of AI's role in sustainable development.

There has been a growing realisation among businesses in recent years that becoming environmentally sustainable is a must, not a choice. Customers, investors and employees and industry regulators are all putting pressure on them to act before the climate crisis worsens to calamitous levels. Alongside this, the willingness of companies to publicise their progress in reducing their ecological impact is increasing. More than 3,400 organisations, with a combined market cap of £21.4tn, have registered their support for the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures since it published its first reporting recommendations in 2017, for instance. AI has a key role to play in helping firms to hit the ambitious net-zero CO2 emissions targets they are setting themselves. The Global AI Adoption Index 2022, IBM's latest annual survey of uptake, found that two-thirds of the 7,500 IT chiefs it polled were either using AI to achieve sustainability goals or planning to do so.

As with many of us, after three years of staying home, I realized a few months ago that I'd had it with the pandemic. Having traveled up to 70% for years before Covid-19, my initial reaction to being in the same time zone and same building and bed was pure gratitude, even bliss. I wanted to go out and experience the world again. During our last Omicron-initiated staycation over the Christmas holidays, my 14-year-old son stated in his very polished, diplomatic and convincing style that he was bored. As soon as we learned Omicron was manageable, and there would be a break from lockdowns and fewer travel restrictions, we decided to get on with it and book some memorable holidays. So came the trips to Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.