Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of our lives on an unprecedented scale. Although perspectives on this technology vary widely, ranging from optimism about its potential to concerns about its risks and possible consequences, there is broad agreement that AI will transform what we do, how we relate to one another, and how we perceive and understand the world and our place in it.
This new issue of Pulso Ambiental, titled A New World, explores the uncertainties, challenges, and conflicts that AI raises for the present and the future. Its contributions examine a wide range of issues, including the use of AI by governments, surveillance systems, the collection and management of personal data, regulatory proposals, ownership and control of the technology, territorial and geopolitical conflicts, disinformation, its proposed role in addressing climate change, and its implications for employment, human rights, and the environment.
The Materiality of the Cloud
Although AI may appear immaterial and detached from any particular place, existing in the seemingly intangible realm of “the cloud,” it relies on a physical infrastructure: data centres. This infrastructure includes buildings, servers, cables, fibre-optic networks, energy supplies, water resources, and the land on which these facilities are built and operated.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centres account for approximately 1.5% of global electricity consumption. Their water requirements can also be substantial. As Fermín Koop explains in this issue, a single data centre can consume up to 19 million litres of water per day—an amount comparable to the daily water consumption of a city of 50,000 people, such as Gualeguaychú, Río Tercero, or Tres Arroyos in Argentina.
Data centres of varying sizes are already operating across Europe, the United States, China, Brazil, Chile, and other countries. Around the world, communities are increasingly challenging plans to build these facilities, raising concerns about their potential impacts on local environments, access to natural resources, and the rights of affected populations.
Argentina’s Bid to Become an AI Hub
Under President Javier Milei, Argentina is seeking to position itself as an attractive destination for data centre development by offering incentives and favourable conditions for investment in these projects.
The proposed “Super RIGI” bill seeks to expand on the existing Large Investment Incentive Regime (Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones, or RIGI) by introducing additional tax and economic incentives for projects related to this technology. This proposal reflects the government’s broader approach to attracting investment in the sector, amid concerns about the adequacy of public oversight and safeguards to address its potential impacts.
These concerns arise in a context marked by cuts to the responsibilities and budgetary resources of institutions tasked with environmental monitoring and enforcement, alongside the strengthening of security and intelligence agencies whose activities include monitoring social movements and those who oppose government policies. Together, these developments raise important questions about the capacity of public institutions to protect the environment, uphold human rights, ensure transparency, and enable meaningful public participation in decisions concerning the expansion of AI infrastructure.
Toward a Socio-Ecological Perspective on AI
A socio-ecological perspective—one that considers the transformations needed to enable humanity to live within planetary boundaries—reveals that the challenges posed by AI extend far beyond the extraction of natural resources and the construction and operation of data centres.
The implications of AI are not limited to environmental protection and economic development. They also concern how we live together, how we inhabit the planet, and whose interests shape the societies we build. They compel us to consider what we, as a society, choose to prioritise and what we risk leaving behind. This includes examining who benefits from AI, who bears the social and environmental costs of its development, who owns and controls the technology, who makes decisions about its design and deployment, and how communities can participate meaningfully in determining its uses and purposes.
The planetary crisis demands political commitment and collective action to build the social consensus needed to implement effective policies. The emergence of AI raises a related challenge: establishing the principles, safeguards, and forms of democratic oversight that should govern its development and use. What agreements are needed to ensure that AI serves the public interest? How can we establish effective regulatory frameworks and clear limits on its development when control over much of this technology remains concentrated in the hands of a small number of powerful actors?
Ultimately, this new issue of Pulso Ambiental is driven by a fundamental ethical and philosophical question: What functions and responsibilities are we, as humanity, willing to delegate to machines without compromising our humanity or jeopardising the conditions that sustain life on Earth?