The materiality of AI’s immateriality: Can unsustainable technologies promote sustainable management?

Abstract Life in society is a function of the tension between the tangible and the intangible, although human beings have a natural tendency to give more attention and meaning to what their senses directly perceive. If there is smoke, we believe there is fire. AI, understood in a broad sense, is becoming the new electricity or even the new oxygen. A technology deified in such a disruptive, omnipotent, and omnipresent way that it will revolutionize all dimensions of society, from work, mobility, teaching, health, business, and the very nature of life. However, the deep and structurally unsustainable material dimension of this technology has received less attention and without smoke no one looks for the origin of the fire, and it spreads at a speed never seen before. The objective of this article is to identify the main layers of AI’s materiality, questioning its apparent benevolent relationship with management.