Vol. 1 No. 01 (2025)
Articles

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for Sustainability: An Exploration of Emerging Academic Discourses.

PDF
  • Yogesh K. Dwivedi.,
  • Hanaa Al-Banna
Yogesh K. Dwivedi.
Department of Information Systems & Operations Management (ISOM), KFUPM Business School, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Bio
Hanaa Al-Banna
Business and Law Department, Northumbria University London, United Kingdom.
Bio
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for Sustainability: An Exploration of Emerging Academic Discourses

Published 2025-09-09

Keywords

  • Artificial Intelligence,
  • GenAI,
  • Ethical AI Deployment,
  • Sustainability,
  • Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) for Sustainability: An Exploration of Emerging Academic Discourses. (2025). JOINETECH (International Journal of Economic and Technological Studies), 1(01), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.65479/joinetech.14

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Abstract

This paper discusses how generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) transforms sustainability by addressing critical global challenges. It explores academic insights into the ways GenAI drives applications, opportunities, and solutions in education, business, governance, and the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The literature analysis highlights that GenAI fosters inclusivity, enhances operational efficiency, and promotes innovative sustainability practices. However, it also presents challenges such as algorithmic bias, digital divides, and high energy consumption. The study calls on stakeholders to adopt ethical frameworks, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and implement robust policies. These actions will mitigate risks and ensure the responsible deployment of GenAI to achieve sustainable and equitable outcomes globally.
PDF

References

  1. Alarcón-López, C., Krütli, P., & Gillet, D. (2024, May). Assessing ChatGPT’s Influence on Critical Thinking in Sustainability Oriented Activities. In 2024 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON) (pp. 1-10). IEEE.
  2. Al-Busaidi, A. S., Raman, R., Hughes, L., Albashrawi, M. A., Malik, T., Dwivedi, Y. K., ... & Walton, P. (2024). Redefining boundaries in innovation and knowledge domains: Investigating the impact of generative artificial intelligence on copyright and intellectual property rights. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 9(4), article 100630.
  3. Al-Emran, M., Abu-Hijleh, B., & Alsewari, A. A. (2024). Exploring the effect of Generative AI on social sustainability through integrating AI attributes, TPB, and T-EESST: A deep learning-based hybrid SEM-ANN approach. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 71, 14512–14524.
  4. Al-Emran, M., Al-Qaysi, N., Al-Sharafi, M. A., Khoshkam, M., Foroughi, B., & Ghobakhloo, M. (2025). Role of perceived threats and knowledge management in shaping generative AI use in education and its impact on social sustainability. The International Journal of Management Education, 23(1), article 101105.
  5. AlQershi, N. A., Thursamy, R., Alzoraiki, M., Ali, G. A., Mohammed Emam, A. S., & Nasir, M. D. B. M. (2025). Is ChatGPT a source to enhance firms’ strategic value and business sustainability? Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management, 16(1), 121-142.
  6. Alshamsi, I., Sadriwala, K. F., Alazzawi, F. J. I., & Shannaq, B. (2024). Exploring the impact of generative AI technologies on education: Academic expert perspectives, trends, and implications for sustainable development goals. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 8(11), 8532.
  7. Apostol, O., Dey, C., & Thomson, I. (2024). Reflecting on the Impact of Generative AI for Sustainability Accounting Scholarship. Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, 44(3), 181-192.
  8. Bergeron, L., François, J., State, R., & Hilger, J. (2023, November). ULA, a Bibliometric Method to Identify Sustainable Development Goals using Large Language Models. In 2023 IEEE International Humanitarian Technology Conference (IHTC) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
  9. Bhaskar, P., & Seth, N. (2024). Environment and sustainability development: A ChatGPT perspective. In Applied Data Science and Smart Systems (pp. 54-62). CRC Press.
  10. Boustani, N. M., Sidani, D., & Boustany, Z. (2024). Leveraging ICT and Generative AI in Higher Education for Sustainable Development: The Case of a Lebanese Private University. Administrative Sciences, 14(10), 251.
  11. Bronzini, M., Nicolini, C., Lepri, B., Passerini, A., & Staiano, J. (2024). Glitter or gold? Deriving structured insights from sustainability reports via large language models. EPJ Data Science, 13(1), article 41.
  12. Driessens, O., & Pischetola, M. (2024). Danish university policies on generative AI: Problems, assumptions and sustainability blind spots. MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research, 40(76), 31-52.
  13. Dwivedi, Y. K. (2025). Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in entrepreneurial education and practice: emerging insights, the GAIN Framework, and research agenda. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 21(1), 1-21.
  14. Dwivedi, Y. K., Malik, T., Hughes, L., & Albashrawi, M. A. (2024). Scholarly Discourse on GenAI’s Impact on Academic Publishing. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 1-16. Available at https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2024.2435386
  15. Eisenreich, A., Just, J., Jiménez, D. G., & Füller, J. (2024). Revolution or inflated expectations? Exploring the impact of generative AI on ideation in a practical sustainability context. Technovation, 138, 103123.
  16. Fonseca, L., Oliveira, E., Pereira, T., & Sá, J. C. (2024). Leveraging ChatGPT for Sustainability: A Framework for SMEs to Align with UN Sustainable Development Goals and tackle sustainable development challenges. Management & Marketing, 19(3), 471-497.
  17. Ghobakhloo, M., Fathi, M., Iranmanesh, M., Vilkas, M., Grybauskas, A., & Amran, A. (2024). Generative artificial intelligence in manufacturing: opportunities for actualizing Industry 5.0 sustainability goals. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 35(9), 94-121.
  18. Giudici, M., Abbo, G. A., Belotti, O., Braccini, A., Dubini, F., Izzo, R. A., ... & Garzotto, F. (2023, November). Assessing LLMs Responses in the Field of Domestic Sustainability: An Exploratory Study. In 2023 Third International Conference on Digital Data Processing (DDP) (pp. 42-48). IEEE.
  19. Khowaja, S. A., Khuwaja, P., Dev, K., Wang, W., & Nkenyereye, L. (2024). Chatgpt needs spade (sustainability, privacy, digital divide, and ethics) evaluation: A review. Cognitive Computation, 16(5), 2528-2550.
  20. Martínez-Martín, J. E., Rosado-González, E. M., Martínez-Martín, B., & Sá, A. A. (2024). UNESCO Global Geoparks vs. Generative AI: Challenges for Best Practices in Sustainability and Education. Geosciences, 14(10), 275.
  21. Matthew, U. O., Oyekunle, D. O., Akpan, E. E., Oladipupo, M. A., Chukwuebuka, E. S., Adekunle, T. S., ... & Onumaku, V. C. (2024). Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Sustainable Development Goal 4 for Tertiary Education: Conversational AI With User-Centric Chat-GPT-4. In Impacts of Generative AI on Creativity in Higher Education (pp. 259-288). IGI Global.
  22. Nedungadi, P., Tang, K. Y., & Raman, R. (2024). The Transformative Power of Generative Artificial Intelligence for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Quality Education. Sustainability, 16(22), 9779.
  23. Prasad Agrawal, K. (2023). Organizational Sustainability of Generative AI-Driven Optimization Intelligence. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 65(3), 265-279.
  24. Raman, R., Lathabai, H. H., Mandal, S., Das, P., Kaur, T., & Nedungadi, P. (2024). ChatGPT: Literate or intelligent about UN sustainable development goals? Plos One, 19(4), e0297521.
  25. Sashida, M., Izumi, K., & Sakaji, H. (2023, July). Extraction SDGs-related sentences from Sustainability Reports using BERT and ChatGPT. In 2023 14th IIAI International Congress on Advanced Applied Informatics (IIAI-AAI) (pp. 742-745). IEEE.
  26. Sato, R., Shimazaki, Y., & Yamaguchi, T. (2023, December). Sustainability of Nature Parks by Changing Tourist Behavior Using Donations and Generative AI. In 2023 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI) (pp. 1014-1021). IEEE.
  27. Wang, S., & Zhang, H. (2025). Promoting sustainable development goals through generative artificial intelligence in the digital supply chain: Insights from Chinese tourism SMEs. Sustainable Development, 33(1), 1231-1248. DoI: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3152