Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

The Earth alignment principle for artificial intelligence

Nature Sustainability volume 8, pages 467–469 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

At a time when the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions precipitously, artificial intelligence (AI) brings large opportunities and large risks. To address its uncertain environmental impact, we propose the ‘Earth alignment’ principle to guide AI development and deployment towards planetary stability.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Achieving strong Earth alignment requires taking account of three criteria simultaneously.

References

  1. Richardson, K. et al. Sci. Adv. 9, eadh2458 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Armstrong McKay, D. I. et al. Science 377, eabn7950 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Vinuesa, R. et al. Nat. Commun. 11, 233 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Larosa, F. et al. Nat. Clim. Change 13, 497–499 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Luers, A. et al. Nature 628, 718–720 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Creutzig, F. et al. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 47, 479–509 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Alcott, B. Ecol. Econ. 54, 9–21 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bengio, Y. et al. Science 384, 842–845 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Rolnick, D. et al. ACM Comput. Surv. 55, 42 (2022).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Rozite, V., Miller, J. & Oh, S. Why AI and energy are the new power couple. IEA (2 November 2023); https://go.nature.com/4bFupwT

  11. Papadimitriou, I., Gialampoukidis, I., Vrochidis, S. & Kompatsiaris, I. Comput. Mater. Sci. 235, 112793 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Price, I. et al. Nature 637, 84–90 (2025).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Thadani, N. N. et al. Nature 622, 818–825 (2023).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Papastratis, I., Konstantinidis, D., Daras, P. & Dimitropoulos, K. Sci. Rep. 14, 14620 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Self-Driving Vehicles: Seventh Report of Session 2022–23 (UK House of Commons Transport Committee, 2023); https://go.nature.com/4bF9xWF

  16. Rockström, J. et al. Nature 619, 102–111 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wilkinson, R. G. & Pickett, K. E. Nature 627, 268–270 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Gibney, E. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00229-6 (2025).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This paper is an outcome of the ‘Global Sustainability and Science Integrity in the Age of Generative AI’ workshop convened by the US National Academy of Sciences, Nobel Prize Outreach and Microsoft following the Nobel Prize Summit, Truth, Trust and Hope held in Washington, DC in May 2023. The views expressed in this article are the opinions of the authors and not necessarily the views of their affiliated organizations.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nobel Prize Outreach, Stockholm, Sweden

    Owen Gaffney

  2. Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Owen Gaffney

  3. Exponential Roadmap Initiative, Stockholm, Sweden

    Owen Gaffney

  4. Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA

    Amy Luers

  5. National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, USA

    Franklin Carrero-Martinez & Berna Oztekin-Gunaydin

  6. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Potsdam, Germany

    Felix Creutzig

  7. Bennett Institute for Innovation and Policy Acceleration, Business School, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

    Felix Creutzig

  8. Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Felix Creutzig

  9. AI Policy Lab, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden

    Virginia Dignum

  10. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Victor Galaz

  11. Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden

    Victor Galaz

  12. Center for Global Commons, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Naoko Ishii

  13. FLOW, Engineering Mechanics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

    Francesca Larosa

  14. European Research Council, Brussels, Belgium

    Maria Leptin

  15. Instituto Geofísico del Perú, Lima, Peru

    Ken Takahashi Guevara

Authors
  1. Owen Gaffney
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Amy Luers
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Franklin Carrero-Martinez
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Berna Oztekin-Gunaydin
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Felix Creutzig
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Virginia Dignum
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Victor Galaz
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Naoko Ishii
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Francesca Larosa
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Maria Leptin
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Ken Takahashi Guevara
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

O.G., A.L., F.C.-M. and B.O.-G. conceived and wrote the article. F.C. contributed to the writing, revision and review. V.D., V.G., N.I., F.L., M.L. and K.T.G. contributed to the revision and review.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Owen Gaffney.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

A.L. is employed by Microsoft. V.G. receives part-time funding from Google.org and has received funding from Google DeepMind. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gaffney, O., Luers, A., Carrero-Martinez, F. et al. The Earth alignment principle for artificial intelligence. Nat Sustain 8, 467–469 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01536-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01536-6

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Anthropocene