Islamic Ecotheology on the Carbon Footprint of Artificial Intelligence in Contemporary Digital Civilization
Keywords:
Islamic Ecotheology, Carbon Footprint, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Ethics, SustainabilityAbstract
The development of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years has driven the massive expansion of digital data centers, cloud computing, and algorithmic processing systems on a global scale. Behind the acceleration of these innovations, AI requires high energy consumption and generates a digital carbon footprint that contributes to the contemporary ecological crisis. The discourse on AI has so far focused more on technological, economic, and social ethical aspects, while studies on the ecological impact of AI from an Islamic perspective are still relatively limited. This research aims to analyze the carbon footprint of AI in contemporary digital civilization through an Islamic ecotheological approach and formulate an ethical foundation for sustainable technology development. This study uses a qualitative method based on literature studies with an approach to Islamic ecology and technological ethics. Data was obtained from international scientific articles, global environmental reports, and literature on AI sustainability and Islamic environmental ethics. The results show that AI is not ecologically neutral as it contributes to increased energy consumption, resource exploitation, and digital carbon emissions. From an Islamic perspective, the digital ecological crisis is seen as a form of imbalance in the relationship between humans and nature due to exploitative technological orientation. The principles of sharia maqashid, especially the protection of life and environmental sustainability, can be used as a basis for building a sustainable AI ethics that places ecological responsibility as an integral part of the digital civilization of the future.
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