What Risks Are We Missing in the AI Boom?

About this episode

In this thought-provoking episode of Sustainability Wired, Lorenzo Saa is joined by Alex Rayón, Chief Executive Officer of Brain & Code, to explore the real opportunities – and urgent challenges – posed by artificial intelligence in sustainable finance.

From AI’s staggering energy demand to its risks of bias, opacity, and concentration of power, Lorenzo and Alex go beyond the hype to unpack what responsible AI truly means for investors, businesses, and society.

Alex, a PhD in Computer Science and early researcher in neural networks, brings a rare perspective – one that spans both the technical foundations of AI and its ethical, environmental, and economic implications. Together, they explore how sustainability and AI must evolve together if we’re to unlock innovation without losing our humanity.

Key topics include:

✅️ AI’s limits and human value: What machines can’t do – and how we must redefine our work

✅️ Governance and risk: From cybersecurity to copyright, what businesses can’t afford to ignore

✅️ The hidden cost of AI: Why today’s prices don’t reflect the true energy and environmental impact

✅️ Data and bias: Why the problem isn’t AI itself, but the data we feed it

✅️ Education and the future of work: How the next generation must be trained for an AI-augmented world

✅️ Concentration and regulation: Can the EU’s approach balance innovation and ethics?

Whether you’re an investor, policymaker, or technologist, this conversation offers a refreshingly honest take on how AI can empower – but also endanger – the path to sustainable growth.

🎧Listen now to hear the full conversation.

Key Moments:

00:00 – Introduction by Lorenzo Saa

02:12 – How Alex’s AI journey began – and its link to sustainability

05:14 – The real business, individual, and societal risks of AI

08:22 – Why cybersecurity is the new frontier

10:05 – Copyright, data ownership, and the myth of “inspiration”

12:21 – Explainability vs. trust: Can we still use what we don’t fully understand?

14:36 – AI’s environmental cost and the illusion of cheap compute

17:55 – Smarter models, cleaner data, and corporate responsibility

20:16 – Can AI reduce or reinforce bias?

22:28 – Cultural blind spots and the dominance of Western data

24:00 – Are we outsourcing our intelligence? The risks of cognitive offloading

25:46 – The next generation and the changing nature of work

27:47 – Concentration of power: Big Tech, big risks

29:52 – EU vs. US regulation: Two worlds, one technology

31:37 – AGI and the myth of machine consciousness

34:37 – The net impact of AI: Positive, but only if it complements us

36:48 – The art of sustainability

37:36 – Alex’s final message: Engage responsibly, stay informed

38:12 – Quick-fire questions

39:49 – Closing thoughts and credits

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