System Update - Episode 3: When AI Meets Planetary Justice

The infrastructure behind AI—from data centers to resource extraction—has tangible consequences for communities, ecosystems, and livelihoods. While many users experience AI as an "invisible digital tool", there are physical realities that make these technologies possible, including land use, energy consumption, displacement of communities, and pressure on local resources. As governments and corporations increasingly promote "green" technology initiatives, environmental and social justice cannot be separated from conversations about technology, particularly when local communities are asked to absorb the impacts of projects that primarily serve global markets and powerful actors. In this episode we are joined by Sara Marcucci who works with AI + Planetary Justice Alliance, an organisation that centres ecological and social justice in conversations about artificial intelligence - pushing back against narratives that treat AI as a neutral or inevitable force, and insisting that the choices we make about this technology are deeply political ones. "System Update", is produced by Forus as part of CADE - the Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment - a project co-funded by the European Union. CADE’s objective is to support the capacity of civil society organisations for effective advocacy in multilateral and multistakeholder internet governance processes. This podcast was co-funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Forus and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.