  Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities have increased
the eagerness of companies to integrate AI into software systems. While AI can
be used to have a positive impact on several dimensions of sustainability, this
is often overshadowed by its potential negative influence. While many studies
have explored sustainability factors in isolation, there is insufficient
holistic coverage of potential sustainability benefits or costs that
practitioners need to consider during decision-making for AI adoption. We
therefore aim to synthesize trade-offs related to sustainability in the context
of integrating AI into software systems. We want to make the sustainability
benefits and costs of integrating AI more transparent and accessible for
practitioners.
  The study was conducted in collaboration with a Dutch financial organization.
We first performed a rapid review that led to the inclusion of 151 research
papers. Afterward, we conducted six semi-structured interviews to enrich the
data with industry perspectives. The combined results showcase the potential
sustainability benefits and costs of integrating AI. The labels synthesized
from the review regarding potential sustainability benefits were clustered into
16 themes, with "energy management" being the most frequently mentioned one. 11
themes were identified in the interviews, with the top mentioned theme being
"employee wellbeing". Regarding sustainability costs, the review discovered
seven themes, with "deployment issues" being the most popular one, followed by
"ethics & society". "Environmental issues" was the top theme from the
interviews. Our results provide valuable insights to organizations and
practitioners for understanding the potential sustainability implications of
adopting AI.
