The Argentina based journal, Notas CPAU, will publish an essay by José Alfredo Ramírez titled The cost of artificial intelligence (El costo de la inteligencia artificial) for issue 54. This issue will focus on the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence. José’s essay discusses the relation between design, policies and technologies in the context of environmental crises. It emphasises that technology is not neutral, nor objective. In this sense, access and use of available technology as a tool to face design and policy challenges is crucial, and it is equally important to reflect on its use and impact before offering itself as a universal solution. José argues that artificial intelligence technologies ought to be scrutinised and designers could do this actively through their practices, rather than passively accepting its assumed benefits. The essay can be accessed here.

Image: A tool that depicts future scenarios of Mexico City from 2020–2050. The tool has been created by the AA Groundlab and the Centre for Advance Spatial Analysis, the British Geological Survey and the Socio Hydrological Resilience Tool, 2021.