Building a sustainable future with advanced technologies and AI

Leaders today stand at a crossroads. Which direction do they go next? Embracing AI and advanced technologies fully? Experimenting on smaller scales to learn what works? Or watching and waiting until the path ahead is clearer? 

This exact dilemma is confounding many. Discussions in boardrooms, in professional spheres and on social media offer little clarity. Optimistic predictions about the potential of advanced technology can be overshadowed by dire warnings about unforeseen impacts. Urgent calls for regulation and restraint coexist with buzz about seizing the unique potential of the early days of AI. 

To find the signal among the noise, ADSW’s Advisory Committee on AI and Advanced Technologies gathered those with the most insight: the visionaries and doers standing at the forefront of their own organizations, leading them through the change. Executives from cleantech companies, renewable energy firms, O&G companies, green finance institutions and independent analysts shared their success stories and their hard-won wisdom. Their insights can help individuals and sectors to better understand how to maximize the potential of advanced tech while minimizing its drawbacks. 

Advanced technologies are already changing the game

Many of the leaders at the committee are past discussing the potential of AI, and are already reaping benefits: in cost, in planning, in efficiency and, most importantly, in sustainability.

A speaker from a leading oil and gas company described how they have deployed AI to create autonomous operations across hundreds of drilling wells. These have boosted well stability by up to 50% and boosted production capacity by 5%, and they also significantly cut emissions and operational costs. By reducing the need for on-site personnel and inspections, AI solutions have prevented over a million tons of CO2 emissions. Across the business, they have yielded $500 million in operational cost savings for 2022-2023. Beyond individual site enhancements, AI’s ability to simulate and optimize entire operational setups before deployment offers a cost-effective pathway for businesses to adopt cutting-edge technologies with precision and scalability. In this way, AI has resulted in the best-case scenario: an environmental win that’s good for business.

Lessons learned

Successes like these didn’t come without facing challenges on the way. Speaking from experience, participants shared valuable insights into the potential stumbling blocks leaders can avoid. Four key themes emerged from their discussions: data security must be top of mind, the importance of responsible, sustainable design and how standardization will empower efficient, streamlined development across industries. 

As an emerging technology, advanced technologies can process and produce an exceptional amount of data – but it’s unclear what happens to that data in the process. At a time where knowledge and data are priceless to both organizations and private individuals, it’s critical for leaders to build strong frameworks for safeguarding sensitive data while using advanced technologies.

Beyond data, there was a more profound consideration: that AI’s power can be a double-edged sword. The more powerful a technology, the more resources it needs to fuel it. AI is no exception. AI may give, but it also takes substantial energy and water to power data centers. Without addressing this paradox at its source, turning to AI and advanced technologies to advance sustainability would be adding fuel to the growing flames of global warming. Using renewable energy to power advanced technology and building sustainability at the operational level can help ensure that advanced technologies are meaningfully contributing to the fight against climate change. 

Participants highlighted another key aspect of using advanced technologies: the importance of standardization. As an emerging technology, we are living in a unique moment for artificial intelligence: development is happening independently and rapidly across sectors, with the barrier to entry low. In many cases, experimenting with AI requires access to a computer and an internet connection, some basic knowledge, and enthusiasm. This has inarguable upsides: individuals and organizations alike are devising creative ways of using AI and learning more about the technology’s potential and limitations each day. But the drawbacks are significant. The energy use, duplicated effort, difficulty in sharing knowledge and lack of cohesion could ultimately work against efforts to collaborate and scale effectively. While the idea of regulation and standardization may cause some to bristle, experts did discuss the importance of creating a shared understanding of AI use to ensure that growth can be shared and spread across industries and sectors. 

The future of AI and advanced technologies

AI and advanced technologies may still be in their early days, but their impact is already profound, reshaping industries, optimizing processes, and driving sustainability efforts in ways once thought impossible. However, their promise is not an inevitable guarantee – it is a potential that must be actively realized.

The future these technologies create depends on the decisions we make today. By prioritizing collaboration, standardization, and sustainability, we can ensure that AI and advanced technologies do not just serve the few but benefit the many. Leaders now hold the responsibility to guide this transformation wisely, embracing the power of innovation while safeguarding the principles of inclusivity and environmental stewardship.

Read the ADSW Advisory Committee Insights Report: Advanced Technologies and AI to find out more.