People still need to travel. Businesses need to remain productive. Homes need to be comfortable, and energy needs to be reliable.

Our aim is not simply to tell people to consume less, travel less or give up the things that matter to them. SustAI researchers explore how AI can help redesign the systems around those choices: making transport more efficient, improving how energy is generated, used and managed in buildings, reducing waste, protecting natural environments and improving the sustainability of AI itself.

We believe change is more likely to last when the sustainable option is not presented as a sacrifice but becomes the default option, because it is the one that works best.

AI can be a powerful force for good, but it also comes with environmental and ethical challenges of its own.

As AI use grows, so does the infrastructure needed to support it. The energy consumed by large-scale computing and the water used to cool data centres is becoming an increasingly visible part of the sustainability debate.

Four SustAI research themes explore how AI can help address sustainability challenges. The fifth turns the lens back on AI itself: how can we understand its environmental impact and bring it down?

That research works at different levels. Students may explore smarter algorithms that achieve more using less computing power, or new approaches to hardware that allow AI to run much more efficiently. Projects include developing more efficient computer chips using Southampton’s clean room facilities and techniques that enable AI to run on small, low-power devices rather than relying on large, energy-intensive servers.

Understanding the impact comes first. SustAI researchers also explore how the environmental footprint of AI can be measured, so we can identify where improvements will make the greatest difference.

This wider perspective matters across SustAI. Students are encouraged to look beyond whether an idea is technically possible and consider how it will work in the real world.

Who will benefit? Who could be excluded? What resources will it consume? What might it change elsewhere in the system? Could the same outcome be achieved in a more efficient, accessible or responsible way?

Technical excellence matters, but it is only part of good research. SustAI helps students develop the judgement, critical thinking and sense of responsibility needed to create technology that works for people, organisations and the environment.