🤖 AI Summary
This work addresses the unsustainable linear scaling paradigm of current generative AI systems, which neglects thermodynamic and material constraints, thereby exacerbating Scope 3 emissions and electronic waste and impeding the synergistic transition toward both digitalization and environmental sustainability. The study proposes a regenerative socio-technical roadmap that reconceptualizes AI infrastructure as a “system of systems” bounded by planetary limits. Integrating metabolic circuit frameworks, IEEE IRDS semiconductor sustainability guidelines, and circular economy principles, this approach centers on “value and need” rather than Nvidia-style centralized architectures. Emphasizing resource moderation and planetary responsibility, the proposed pathway identifies critical gaps in existing roadmaps and offers an actionable framework for digital circular economies that supports regulatory compliance and industrial resilience.
📝 Abstract
Current scaling trajectories for Generative AI, typified by linear supply-side "stacks," prioritize performance density while externalizing significant thermodynamic and material costs. As the "Twin Transition" of green and digital transformation accelerates, the industry faces technology gaps - including Scope 3 emissions and e-waste recycling - that impede sustainable scaling and lead to social tensions. This study proposes a Regenerative Socio-Technical roadmap that repurposes the Sustainable Production and Consumption system map to reframe artificial intelligence infrastructure as a system-of-systems governed ultimately by planetary limits. By integrating the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Roadmap for Devices and Systems (IEEE IRDS) sustainability considerations for semiconductor facilities, the study proposes a metabolic circuit framework that centers "Values and Needs" within production and consumption relationship loops. This study identifies critical gaps in current Nvidia-centric roadmaps and proposes a competing reference architecture. It demonstrates how a spontaneous order of resource parsimony and planetary accountability can provide an actionable pathway for regulatory compliance and industrial resilience in the digital circular economy.