Environmental Design in AI

This article advances the thesis that the development of Artificial Intelligence, far from representing an absolute rupture with nature, progressively incorporates characteristics inherent to environmental design. Rather than emerging as a purely abstract creation or something detached from the natural world, many AI systems are conceived through the observation of structures, behaviors, and adaptive strategies already present in living organisms and ecosystems. In other words, this means that AI can be understood as a kind of technical continuation of environmental solutions refined by evolution itself. The article further argues that AI design increasingly follows an ecological logic in which intelligent systems respond to environmental conditions, adjust to change, and expand human capacities through biological references. Finally, it is argued that Artificial Intelligence cannot be adequately understood through the traditional opposition between nature and artifact. Because it emerges from the convergence of biological inspiration, technical infrastructures, and informational processes, AI occupies a hybrid ontological position that differs both from living organisms and from classical artifacts, thereby requiring new conceptual categories within the philosophy of technology.

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Publication Details

Journal
Philosophies
Published
2026-09-09
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/philosophies11050160
Primary Topic
Embodied and Extended Cognition
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Environmental Design in AI

Léo Peruzzo Júnior
Philosophies
Embodied and Extended Cognition
article

Environmental Design in AI

Léo Peruzzo Júnior
article en

Abstract

This article advances the thesis that the development of Artificial Intelligence, far from representing an absolute rupture with nature, progressively incorporates characteristics inherent to environmental design. Rather than emerging as a purely abstract creation or something detached from the natural world, many AI systems are conceived through the observation of structures, behaviors, and adaptive strategies already present in living organisms and ecosystems. In other words, this means that AI can be understood as a kind of technical continuation of environmental solutions refined by evolution itself. The article further argues that AI design increasingly follows an ecological logic in which intelligent systems respond to environmental conditions, adjust to change, and expand human capacities through biological references. Finally, it is argued that Artificial Intelligence cannot be adequately understood through the traditional opposition between nature and artifact. Because it emerges from the convergence of biological inspiration, technical infrastructures, and informational processes, AI occupies a hybrid ontological position that differs both from living organisms and from classical artifacts, thereby requiring new conceptual categories within the philosophy of technology.

PhilosophiesVol. 11(5)
Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná (BR), Itera - Inovação e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (Brazil) (BR)
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Embodied and Extended Cognition
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