Artificial Intelligence Shapes Relationship with Nature – New Research Turns Focus to Perceived Environment

Artificial intelligence has traditionally been viewed in environmental issues primarily as a tool: it can aid in conservation efforts, but at the same time raises concerns, for example, about its energy consumption. A research group originating from China proposes in a recent article that it is equally important to ask how artificial intelligence changes the perceived relationship with nature and environmental ethics itself.

The research examines the effects of artificial intelligence from a phenomenological perspective. Phenomenology is a branch of philosophy that does not focus solely on external facts, but on how the world is experienced at the level of senses, emotions, and everyday practices. The authors Xue Yu, Maoxin Hou, and Yingjie Li particularly draw on East Asian intellectual traditions and everyday experiences.

The article analyzes three concepts that describe the perceived relationship with the environment: terroir, trajetivity, and living flesh. Terroir does not refer merely to an objectively measurable environment, but to a local perspective where sensory perceptions, emotional experiences, and meanings attached to the place combine. The other two concepts are also linked to how humans and the environment are in constant interaction and how perceived reality is constructed.

This approach introduces a new question to the discussion of environmental ethics: what happens to these subtle, experiential relationships when the perception of the environment and decision-making are outsourced to artificial intelligence systems? The research does not focus on a new technical solution, but on the way artificial intelligence colors people's everyday experience of nature – and thus also how environmental responsibility and justice are generally perceived.

Source: AI, environment and lifeworld: How does artificial intelligence influence lived experience in environmental ethics?, AI & SOCIETY.