The oft-used word "sustainability" states an ideal. It would seem to be a simple one, even a low bar. Can the human species sustain itself on this planet? Do our practices sustain our planet's ability to host us? Three years ago the University of Alberta put the point this way: " Sustainability means meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." At the same time, "artificial intelligence" is on everyone's lips. Nothing about the near future seems more certain than that there will be ever higher levels of AI there, doing ever more and ever-more complicated tasks. So, let us promote the battle of the finance world buzzwords, by asking: is AI sustainable? What is the ever-increasing dependence of the human race on self-teaching complexes of algorithm going to do to the environment in which we live? The reason for asking? AI uses up a lot of power. A story that appears recently in MIT N...