Sustainability—in its environmental, economic, and social aspects—poses significant challenges to the future of humanity and calls for swift global countermeasures. Its importance is exemplified by the already introduced 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), which serve as a framework to organize international action. The digital revolution, spurred by continuous progress in the field of information technology, machine learning, and robotics, is likely the biggest single technological factor that might help achieve the SDGs in the coming years (Goralski and Tan
2020; Vinuesa et al.
2020). Consider, for example, its potential impacts on the economic aspects linked to sustainability. AI will increasingly affect almost all sectors of the economy. Agriculture (precision agriculture), mining (autonomous vehicles), production (robotics), marketing (profiling), finance (models behavioral), media (individual targeting), health (diagnostics), etc. are all experiencing major transformations thanks to digital technologies. In general, these technological contributions can increase productivity, reduce production costs, reduce environmental impacts by dematerializing production, and improve market functioning. In a word, the digital revolution has the potential to offer significant support to the many sustainability challenges to be faced in the next future. However, there are also obvious risks that must be identified and addressed. Among these, the emergence of monopolies requires due attention. In fact, some companies can exploit their advantages in accumulating large data to gain a dominant monopoly position in their respective markets, allowing them to enjoy a sheltered position from competition and altering the regular functioning of the market. Another most feared concern is the loss of jobs and the displacement of income distribution from labor to capital (Korinek et al.
2019). Apparently, an important consequence of automation processes is the reduction of the demand for less qualified workers (Arntz et al.
2016). With advances in AI and robotics, many more workers can now see their jobs and incomes threatened (Frey and Osborne
2017). While new jobs could replace old ones, they could bear lower incomes and impoverished working conditions. Only by raising awareness and taking action to mitigate such risks will it be possible to fully ripe the benefits that the digital revolution might yield in terms of economic sustainability. In addition, from the social standpoint it will be crucial to strike sustainable balances between benefits and risks. Social advantages brought about by digital technologies are many and range from expanding access to goods and services to enhancing pharmacological research and therapies, reducing waste, allowing for a better management of public resources, and simplifying access to public services (Taddeo and Floridi
2018a). There are, however, many other social threats perceived as brought about by the digital revolution. Digital identities can be stolen. Governments and private companies can invade privacy and monitor individuals against their will or without their knowledge. In addition, social media can be manipulated and cyber-attacks can paralyze companies or institutions by interrupting information flows or hitting devices connected to the Internet. Finally, the problem of the environmental impacts of AI technologies requires special attention as well (Nishant et al.
2020). Even though in many cases AI can help optimize processes and, thus, reduce waste and emissions, it is important to raise awareness and take into due consideration the high energy consumption and the extraction of materials for chips or batteries that are necessary to power, train, test and deploy AI systems (Lucivero
2020; Vinuesa et al.
2020). Moreover, research must be carried out to predict possible rebound effects and take action to minimize their effects.