AI is guzzling energy for slop content could it be reimagined to help the climate?

"Last week, a coalition of groups, UN bodies and the Brazilian government unveiled the AI Climate Institute, a new global initiative aimed at fostering AI as a tool of empowerment in developing countries to help them tackle environmental problems. Proponents say the program, in time, will help educate countries on how to use AI in an array of ways to bring down emissions, such as better optimizing public transit, organizing agricultural systems and recalibrating the energy grid so that renewables are deployed at the right times."

"Even weather forecasting, including the mapping of impending climate-driven disasters such as flooding and wildfires, can be improved in this way, according to Maria Joao Sousa, executive director, Climate Change AI, one of the groups behind the new initiative. Very few places in the world actually run numerical weather prediction models because numerical weather prediction models are very compute-intensive, she said. I definitely believe (AI) is a positive force to accelerate a lot of these things."

Artificial intelligence is associated with high electricity consumption and related emissions, but AI can also drive emissions reductions through efficiency gains across major polluting sectors. A global initiative named the AI Climate Institute was launched to help developing countries apply AI to environmental challenges. Use cases include optimizing public transit, organizing agricultural systems, and recalibrating energy grids to deploy renewables at optimal times. AI can improve weather forecasting and mapping of climate-driven disasters, though many places lack numerical weather prediction due to high compute requirements. AI also enables better monitoring of emissions and biodiversity and helps identify concentrated problem areas.

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