| Duration | Since 2022 |
| Principal Investigator | |
| Funding | Equity resources |
| Keywords |
AI, Sustainability, media ethics, media prectices, digital infrastructures |
Abstract
The multiple crisis we are facing is increased through the diffusion of technologies of artificial
intelligence (AI) in societies worldwide as the development, training and use of AI as well as the production of AI infrastructures cause tremendous social, ecological, economic, and political effects. Therefore, the analysis of practices and possibilities through which artificial intelligence can be shaped (more) sustainable needs to be researched urgently.
The following research questions are guiding for this research focus:
Which are the social, ecological, economic, and political effects that the training, development, and use of generative AI causes?
And what are the practices through which different actors (AI developing organizations, research networks, politicians, users) try to shape (generative) AI more sustainably?
Within this research focus, theoretical conceptualizations are developed and empirical studies conducted to answer these research questions.
Selected Publications:
- Castro Leal, D., Krüger, M., & Kannengießer, S. (2026). Amazonia’s Place in AI: Minerals and Mining as the Cradle of Infrastructuring. In Mollen, A., Jansen, F., Kannengießer, S., & Velkova, J. (Hrsg.), ECREA Book Series AI Infrastructures and Sustainability. Expanding Perspectives on Automation, Communication and Media. (S. 51–72). Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-09748-4_3.
- Mollen, A., Jansen, F., Kannengießer, S., & Velkova, J. (Hrsg.) (2026). AI Infrastructures and Sustainability. Expanding Perspectives on Automation, Communication and Media. Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-09748-4.
- Mollen, A., & Kannengießer, S. (2026). The Material Condition: A Practice Theory-Oriented Infrastructural Turn to the Ethics of Human-AI Communication. Human-Machine Communication, 12, 43–60. doi: 10.30658/hmc.12.3.
- Mollen, A., & Kannengießer, S. (2025). Shaping AI (more) sustainably. Socio-technological perspectives on AI infrastructures. In Kox, T., Ullrich, A., & Zech, H. (Hrsg.), Uncertain Journeys into Digital Futures: Inter- and Transdisciplinary Research for Mitigating Wicked Societal and Environmental Problems (S. 207–218). Nomos. doi: 10.5771/9783748947585.