Communicating Sustainable Development Goals in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

This book is the first scholarly work dedicated to examining the complex relationship between artificial intelligence and communicating the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Moving beyond techno-optimist narratives, the book advances a critical theoretical intervention: the AI Sustainability Exclusion Theory. This framework identifies interconnected biases that systematically exclude populations from AI's developmental benefits, contradicting the 2030 Agenda's pledge to "leave no one behind." It is essential reading for communications and development scholars, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to ensure that the AI economy advances human flourishing rather than exacerbating global inequality.
 
This is probably the first book which attempts to integrate three previously less connected domains: communications, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and artificial intelligence (AI). The contributions edited by Dr. Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u advance our understanding that AI can be utilized as a communication for development tool to achieve the SDGs. ---Jan Servaes (PhD, former UNESCO Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change
 
A sharp and timely collection that shows why AI must be at the centre of global sustainability debates. It is essential reading for anyone committed to fair and inclusive development.---Massimo Ragnedda (Associate Professor at the University of Sharjah and Honorary Professor at Lomonosov University).
 
Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u is a researcher, development and communications expert, and former journalist with the BBC World Service. He is the author and editor of The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development, SDG18: Communication for All, and Regional Parallelism and Corruption Scandals in Nigeria. He was an Edward S. Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School where he obtained a Master in Public Administration and graduate certificate in public policy and management. He holds a PhD in Journalism Studies and MA in Political Communication from the University of Sheffield; an MBA from IE Business School; and a BA in Mass Communications from Bayero University, Kano. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Africa Policy Journal at Harvard Kennedy School.

List of contents

Chapter 1:  Communicating SDGs in the AI Economy: Towards an AI-Sustainability Exclusion Theory, Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u.- Chapter 2: The Geopolitics of AI and the SDGs: Development as Digital Dependency? Boris Houenou.- Chapter 3: Can Artificial Intelligence and Communication Research Catalyse Sustainable Development? A Global Analysis of Research Topics Based on InCites and OSDG Classifications by Pablo Sánchez-Núñez and Núria Bautista-Puig.- Chapter 4
:
AI and Offshore Wind Energy, Alison Novak.- Chapter 5
:
Greenwashed Intelligence? Strategic Communication and the Rhetorical Politics of AI in Sustainable Development, Tymoteusz Chajdas.- Chapter 6: First Nations sovereign communication and the risk of AI and colonial norms in the SDGs, Holly Randell-Moon, Jessica Russ-Smith, and Nick Ruddell.- Chapter 7: Digital Democracy and SDGs: AI as a Tool for Participation and Awareness, Daniele Battista.- Chapter 8: AI and Media Sustainability: Media education and Egyptian students’ perceptions of AI impact on the Evolving Job Market" by Alamira Samah Saleh and Mahmoud Zaky Abdel-Emam.- Chapter 9: From Division to Dialogue: AI-Mediated Peacebuilding in Turkey’s Digital Conflict Narratives, Sarphan Uzunoğlu.- Chapter 10: Generative AI and Misinformation: Designing Educational Simulations as a Tool for Epistemic Resilience, Mgr. Martin Richter.- Chapter 11: The Need for Non-Polarizing Communication to Attain Sustainable Development Goal 16, Jude William Genilo and Kamolrat Intaratat.- Chapter 12: Synthetic Truth: The Epistemic Authority of Generative AI and the Commodification of Credibility in News,  Julia Belmiro.- Chapter 13: Framing AI and SDGs Relationship: A Comparative Media Study Across Five European Countries, Alberto E. López-Carrión.- Chapter 14: AI and Sustainability in Lebanon,  Ramzi A. Haraty et al.- Chapter 15: A UX-Centered and AI-Driven Approach to Reducing Digital Inequalities in Puerto Rico, Ramtin Ranjpour and Renee Mitson.- Chapter 16: SDG Stakeholder Mobilization in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Amukelani Charmaine Matsilele.- Chapter 17: Human-AI Communication in Advancing a Just Climate Transition, Mary Lynn De Silva and Bradley Todd Hiller.- Chapter 18: Gender equity and sustainable development goals: AI for mitigating gender-based violence, Satarupa Dasgupta et al.- Chapter 19: AI’s Exciting Future, Uncertain Outcomes, Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u.

About the author

Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u is a researcher, development and communications expert, and former journalist with the BBC World Service. He is the author and editor of The Palgrave Handbook of International Communication and Sustainable Development, SDG18: Communication for All, and Regional Parallelism and Corruption Scandals in Nigeria. He was an Edward S. Mason Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School where he obtained a Master in Public Administration and graduate certificate in public policy and management. He holds a PhD in Journalism Studies and MA in Political Communication from the University of Sheffield; an MBA from IE Business School; and a BA in Mass Communications from Bayero University, Kano. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the Africa Policy Journal at Harvard Kennedy School.

Summary

This book is the first scholarly work dedicated to examining the complex relationship between artificial intelligence and communicating the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Moving beyond techno-optimist narratives, the book advances a critical theoretical intervention: the AI Sustainability Exclusion Theory. This framework identifies interconnected biases that systematically exclude populations from AI's developmental benefits, contradicting the 2030 Agenda's pledge to "leave no one behind." It is essential reading for communications and development scholars, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to ensure that the AI economy advances human flourishing rather than exacerbating global inequality.
 
This is probably the first book which attempts to integrate three previously less connected domains: communications, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and artificial intelligence (AI). The contributions edited by Dr. Muhammad Jameel Yusha’u advance our understanding that AI can be utilized as a communication for development tool to achieve the SDGs. ---Jan Servaes (PhD, former UNESCO Chair in Communication for Sustainable Social Change
 
A sharp and timely collection that shows why AI must be at the centre of global sustainability debates. It is essential reading for anyone committed to fair and inclusive development.---Massimo Ragnedda (Associate Professor at the University of Sharjah and Honorary Professor at Lomonosov University).

Product details

• Assisted by: Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u (Editor), Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u (Editor)
• Publisher: Springer International Publishing
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 26.05.2026
• EAN: 9783032167996
• ISBN: 978-3-032-16799-6
• Illustrations: Approx. 370 p.
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Communication science; Pädagogik, Umwelt, Sustainability, Künstliche Intelligenz, Medienwissenschaften, Artificial Intelligence, Media Culture, SDGs, Media Industries, Environmental and Sustainability Education, Global Goals, Leave no one behind, Communication for Development