Friend or foe? The problem with AI and greenwashing

THE battle against greenwashing is set to become easier with a potential ally – artificial intelligence (AI).

Driven by cold, hard data and emotionless algorithms, AI can play a critical role in identifying misleading claims and verifying environmental performance, thus increasing transparency in sustainability efforts.

Greenwashing – when businesses make misleading claims to the public about their environmentally sustainable efforts or products – is rampant in markets throughout the world, spurred both by profit chasing and increasingly pro-environment consumers.