Professor Dr Aimee van Wynsberghe

Research Priorities: Ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), sustainable AI, environmental costs of AI, ethics of robotics, ethics of the digital, care ethics, Value Sensitive Design
Aimee van Wynsberghe is a Canadian AI-Expert. Her research focuses on sustainable artificial intelligence (AI). Sustainable AI is an ethical framework that addresses how AI can support sustainability goals (AI for sustainability) and how the development and deployment of AI can be made sustainable (sustainability of AI). With her research she is emphasizing the need to evaluate AI technologies across their entire lifecycle – from data sourcing and energy consumption to long-term societal impact.
Sustainable AI can be understood as having two branches: AI for sustainability and sustainability of AI. Aimee Van Wynsberghe introduced this dual perspective to the research. To fully understand the benefits and risks of AI, it is important to investigate both of these branches. Within her Lab she examines the often hidden, environmental costs of AI. She is doing project-based research with a multi-stakeholder perspective.
Another focus is on ethical issues in the use of robots. Aimee van Wynsberghe is researching how robots can contribute to the global community and how they can help with environmental problems. For example, how robots could be used to dismantle electronic waste, which produces toxic chemicals. She also calls for there to be a recycling plan for every robot produced.
In work with environmental and resource economist Sophia Falk, she has expanded this ethical framework for AI systems into a three-tiered model. This distinguishes between superficial uses of AI in sustainability contexts and AI systems that actively promote sustainability values. In 2024, together with philosopher Larissa Bolte, she located sustainable AI in a “third wave” of AI ethics – one that moves beyond individual fairness or responsible design to focus on structural, institutional, and infrastructural dimensions of AI. This wave demands systemic change, including policy shifts and new governance models. It draws on philosophy of technology that keeping AI systems just and functional over time requires ongoing human labor, attention, and repair.
The research of Aimee van Wynsberghe calls for a structural, justice-oriented, and care-based approach to AI ethics – one that redefines sustainability as a central concern in the age of artificial intelligence.