What Europe’s Policy Reversals Mean for Sustainability, Business and AI
As Europe begins 2026, the continent finds itself at a crossroads in the governance of sustainability, technology and industry. Policymakers across the European Union and the United Kingdom are increasingly embracing deregulatory reforms, promoted as necessary to enhance competitiveness, stimulate investment and ease administrative burdens on business. Yet these reforms, when examined together, reveal a…
The New US AI Action Plan or loosing race you declare
The Trump Administration just released America’s AI Action Plan, a bold, sweeping roadmap to secure what it defines as “unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance.” Framed as an existential race against geopolitical rivals like China, this plan sets out to transform every major sector of American life, industry, national security, infrastructure, education, through Artificial Intelligence.…
The fallacy of the AI debate in academic papers
In the midst of the hand wringing over the use of artificial intelligence in academic writing, one fundamental truth seems to be getting lost: scientific papers exist to advance knowledge, not to pass a style audit or some sort of forensic analysis by not too keen peer reviewers. Whether a paper was written with the…
The big selloff (a fictional story)
1 October 2027 The world stirred into a morning not unlike any other. Markets opened in Asia with a gentle hum of anticipation, commuters in Tokyo and Seoul spilled into subway cars, and diplomats in Brussels prepared their agendas for the EU’s routine morning briefings. But for a few sharp eyed analysts buried deep in…
Students, you need to use AI in your assignments
Graphic created using ChatGPT 4o with the prompt “draw a picture for the blog that follows, including diverse students”, and the whole text of the blog. A new teaching semester has started, and most of my students were surprised by my overencouragement for them to use AI for their assignments (at least in my modules),…
AI and environmental damage
In the previous entry the issue of the environmental and climate change impact of AI use and development was presented as important, and in need of urgent treatment by policy makers (who are squarely ignoring it in most proposals of AI regulation). Those impacts are real, considerable and multifaceted, involving major energy consumption, resource depletion,…
Algorithmic systems and sustainability
After more than a year not even opening this almost twenty years old blog, several changes in my private and job life imply that I will return to this old pastime. I have decided to spend less time on planes and managerial roles in Higher Education, and more in research, teaching and engagement activities, meaning…
The AI letter (and the fallacy of not shooting the messenger)
Several days have past since a group of academics and business people released a letter asking for a moratorium on AI development and deployment. As presented, the letter represents too little too late from a group of people that includes some of those with the least legitimacy to say things like “[s]uch decisions must not…
ChatGPT, the Skynet moment, and Judgement day without steel robots
There was a time when we imagined that the end of times would be marred with steel robots crushing the humans that tried to disconnect them, or enslaved them as a source of energy, but while science fiction has provided plenty of accurate predictions of things to come, it seems that end of the society…
ICT, farming and law
The population of the planet is going to growth from the current 7.7 billion to 9.7 billion in 2050 and nearly 11 billion by 2100, meaning that on one hand, a higher pressure to the availability of land for agriculture, and on the other need to greater agricultural production for food, raw materials and energy.…
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