Artificial Intelligence Needs Environmental Ethics

The growing importance of artificial intelligence (Al) has prompted work on the ethical issues raised by Al technology. We argue that environmental ethicists can make important contributions to Al ethics, and that doing so would be a worthy activity for environmental ethicists. Environmental ethicists can highlight the environmental dimensions of Al, such as its energy footprint and its potential application for environmental protection. Additionally, environmental ethicists can assess the ethics of novel situations that could be enabled by Al, such as computer-based artificial life and artificial ecosystems.