Dr. Will Cavendish reportedly claims that artificial intelligence can be a critical tool in finding new ways to solve the world's ongoing climate crisis.
Dr. Cavendish is a current global digital services leader at Arup and a former Strategy Lead Applied at DeepMind, where he was responsible for comprehending the groundbreaking breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence.
According to the Guardian report, Dr. Cavendish claims that AI has already proven to be an important facilitator in addressing climate and environmental issues. In certain circumstances, AI uses far less power than the traditional computers it replaces, such as in energy-intensive sophisticated climate models.
Meanwhile, artificial intelligence has the potential to uncover huge decarbonization prospects. Cavendish adds that AI can also aid in the transition away from polluting materials like concrete, lower the carbon footprint of energy and transportation systems, and promote the reuse and repurposing of existing structures.
The doctor stresses, however, that "we" must continue improving the efficiency of AI development while ensuring that it is done properly and ethically. But as crucial is using AI to help expedite the green transformation.
NASA on AI Against Climate Change
Dr. Cavendish's claims are one of many, as NASA was also reported using the booming technology to combat climate change. In 2023, NASA and IBM Research collaborated to create an AI geospatial foundation model.
This model, trained on massive databases such as NASA's Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) data, is a critical resource for many AI-driven research projects addressing environmental challenges.
NASA has also made the model accessible to all interested parties, promoting cooperative inquiry and discovery.
Foundation models are the foundation for scientists to build various applications, providing strong and efficient solutions.
Manil Maskey, the data science leader at NASA's Office of the Chief Science Data Officer (OCSDO), compares these models to Swiss Army Knives, which are flexible and can be used for various purposes.
According to NASA, fine-tuning has improved the geospatial foundation model's ability to recognize burn scars, delineate floodwater, and categorize crop and land use types.
While NASA provided substantial data and scientific experience, IBM provided computational resources and expertise in AI algorithm optimization.
NASA and IBM Research also collaborate to create a weather and climate model after the geospatial foundation's achievement.
Like the geospatial model, this weather and climate model will be publicly available, promoting collaborative innovation and research. Multiple foundation models trained on diverse datasets would be required to address all elements of Earth science.
AI-Powered Home Devices
Users can even reportedly benefit from AI against climate change. While traditional weather predictions give a geographical perspective, AI-powered smart home devices personalize any digital experience, including weather data, for specific users.
These gadgets are outfitted with powerful sensors and machine-learning algorithms. They can examine local weather trends, historical data, and even user preferences to produce hyper-local forecasts.
