Arctic Appendix: AI Governance as an Irreversible Zone without Ownership

This appendix reframes contemporary debates on AI ethics and governance through the lens of irreversibility and shared responsibility, drawing structural parallels with environmental law, climate governance, and the management of global commons such as the Arctic. Rather than treating AI-related harms as isolated incidents or technical failures, this text situates them within a broader pattern in which irreversible outcomes are retrospectively framed as natural or unavoidable phenomena. The appendix argues that both environmental degradation and AI governance failures emerge from cumulative human decisions that intentionally leave responsibility unassigned. Designed as a conceptual supplement to the series “Judgment, Responsibility, and Irreversibility in AI Society”, this appendix can be read independently by audiences in environmental policy, international law, and science and technology studies.