The World Financial Discussion board welcomes our new local weather activist AI overlords – what’s the purpose?
Essay by Eric Worrall
Imagine a world powered by ChatGPT
FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Post-breakthrough: How AI can take climate research from the lab into the real world
May 29, 2024
- If the world wants to avert the most dangerous scenarios of climate change, technological innovations are necessary.
- Innovation begins with research and development (R&D), but it doesn't end there. AI can accelerate innovation by translating R&D into climate action.
- Generative AI’s capabilities for natural language processing, data synthesis and scaling, and product prototyping can provide practical tools for climate leaders.
The world is betting on the role of technology in the climate crisis. Scientists and engineers around the world are pushing for the next wave of breakthroughs in climate change adaptation and mitigation. And there is reason for optimism: significant progress has been made in recent years, from weather forecasting to decarbonizing industry.
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AI and climate change
The debut of Generative AI (GenAI) has expanded the collective imagination of what AI can do. We already know that AI can drive scientific breakthroughs, but can it go further? Leaders should explore how AI can act as a downstream catalyst in the innovation cycle, driving adoption of the latest tools and awareness of the latest science. Here are three places to start:
1. Organizing unstructured earth data and downscaling models to local levels
Geosciences are considered “data chaotic” due to complex Earth systems and unstructured environmental data from observational methods. Recently, the volume of such data has exploded: over 100 terabytes of satellite imagery are collected every day. However, this does not simplify the unstructured nature of the data. AI is the key to organizing and reducing the size of these huge amounts of data for local applications.
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2. Development of a GPT interface for translating climate models into a simple language
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GenAI could simplify this by providing a GPT-like interface that allows users of all backgrounds to interact with climate data relevant to their needs, such as monitoring local sea level changes. This approach could make climate models more accessible and build trust in climate projections.
3. Accelerating the prototyping phase of technology development
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Therefore, leaders must mobilize their forces to build AI and climate change ecosystems. The World Economic Forum's Tech for Climate Adaptation Initiative is helping to create this necessary environment by bringing together players from big tech, startups, academia, government and other stakeholders.
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Read more: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/05/ai-lift-climate-research-out-lab-and-real-world/
Maybe I'm being too harsh on this recent WEF brainstorming proposal.
Generative AI is notoriously prone to lying and making things up (technically known in the AI industry as “hallucinations”), but Google recommends combatting hallucinations by narrowing the range of possible answers, among other things.
There is obviously a spending limit that would protect the reputation of the proposed climate chatbot.
If Climate ChatGPT had the restriction to only talk about climate disasters that are at least 50 years in the future and to ignore or deflect dangerous questions like “Where are today’s climate disasters happening?”, there would be no chance that the climate chatbot’s “hallucinations” would ever be discovered. Who would remember what a chatbot said today in 50 years?
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