Description
Professor Marco Marabelli (Bentley University) will present his work (with Prof Robert Davison) on “Artificial Intelligence and the Environment: Ethical Challenges and Strategic Opportunities for Organisations”.
He will also introduce the special issue he is currently guest editing with colleagues at the Information Systems Journal ‘Generative AI and the environment: How can IS scholars contribute to addressing the problem and identifying solutions?’
Abstract
In this viewpoint article, our goal is to raise awareness and spark debate in the Information Systems (IS) community regarding a prominent concern that has important strategic and ethical implications: the environmental impact of the increasing use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI).
We examine several specific issues, beginning with GAI’s heavy consumption of natural resources and electricity. We then move to assessing how the rich and the Global North gain via GAI, while the poor and the Global South must deal with its adverse effects. We then move to assessing GAI’s impact on underrepresented communities and countries in the Global South; while GAI contributes to global warming, this affects people unevenly, because it is mostly rich people and the Global North that make intensive use of these technologies.
After suggesting that more local and global laws are needed to regulate the sustainable use of AI, we report on how organizations can perform AI strategizing, for instance to control emissions in smart cities and improve weather forecasting.
We conclude with a research agenda that aims to encourage IS scholars to focus on the environmental impact of AI, its ethical implications for organizations, and how GAI can be used strategically to benefit all.
Provider Information
BAM e-Business and Information Systems Management SIGSpeakers
Prof Marco Marabelli
Prof Marco Marabelli is a Professor of Computer Information Systems at Bentley University. His research focuses on social justice and the role played by technologies. Professor Marabelli is interested in the ethical implications stemming from technologies such as artificial intelligence, the metaverse etc., in organizations and society and the reasons behind institutional inertia in addressing potential misuses of algorithms.
Chair
Dr Dinara Davlembayeva
Dr Dinara Davlembayeva is a Lecturer in Digital Business at Newcastle University Business School and an Associate Editor at the International Journal of Business Systems & Applied Management. She holds a Ph.D. in Management from Newcastle University Business School and an MSc in Marketing and Strategy from Warwick Business School.
Dinara's research focuses on the use of digital technology within organisations for developing and managing stakeholder relationships. In particular, she adopts a multi-stakeholder perspective to understand how organisations can implement digital technology in business management and marketing, social organisation within digitally-mediated environments, and the implications of digital technology for stakeholder sustainability. Her research explores consumers’ experiences, cognitions, and behaviours when interacting on e-commerce and sharing economy platforms, as well as their interactions with innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and the metaverse. She incorporates interdisciplinary insights into her investigations. Dinara’s completed research has been published in peer-reviewed journals in Information System Management and Marketing and has been presented at international conferences in these fields.
Event Fee
This event is free for all to attend
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Booking Deadline
Registrations close on 3rd November 2026 at 23:59 GMT
Contact
Please contact the BAM Office at [email protected] with any queries.