Over the last three decades, climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts have been closely linked to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Digital and AI-powered technologies are expected to promote the deflection of household energy consumption and facilitate the distribution of renewable energy from various sources. However, the widespread adoption of poorly designed smart home technologies is deepening social inequalities, spreading pervasive surveillance, and, unsurprisingly, worsening the opaque environmental impacts of technology. Such irresponsible outcomes are associated with the industry’s technology-pushed innovation frameworks, which seek technical solutions to poorly framed global challenges without considering the diverse ways in which the public will be affected.
This speculative advertising is based on a research study aimed at challenging solutionism in current technology design by promoting more responsible and equitable visions of smart home technologies. This piece draws on evidence collected from a series of co-design workshops, focus groups, and interviews with public participants in the UK—including professionals who develop smart technologies, early adopters, and those who have chosen not to adopt them. The study revealed that in taking part in the study, participants ended up becoming more aware of the critical role smart home technologies play in the environmental crisis.
Some participants, particularly professionals and early adopters, found these reflections somewhat new, as they typically express a positive outlook on AI technology. In contrast, the scepticism and suspicion often seen among late adopters can be strategically harnessed to promote a more responsible and equitable sociotechnical system in the future. Pieces like this speculative advertising can provoke audiences to think critically about their daily interactions with AI-powered technologies.