Google’s AI allows satellites to see through clouds

AI’s dual role in environmental monitoring and climate impact: Google’s Cloud Score+ demonstrates the potential of artificial intelligence to revolutionize environmental monitoring, while also highlighting the energy-intensive nature of AI technologies.

• Google researchers have developed Cloud Score+, an AI-powered system that provides clearer, more detailed satellite images of remote ecosystems often obscured by clouds.
• The technology uses video AI to score every pixel of satellite images, allowing researchers to select only the highest quality pixels for visualization and analysis.
• Cloud Score+ has been successfully applied in Ecuador’s Imbabura Province, a UNESCO Global Geopark, to improve understanding of the region’s assets despite constant cloud cover and remote terrain.

Applications in environmental science and conservation: Cloud Score+ and other AI technologies are being utilized to address various environmental challenges and improve conservation efforts.

• The system has been used to monitor forest health, detect disease outbreaks, identify plant stress in peatlands, and map forest tree species for improved management.
• Google Research is also applying AI to enhance wildfire detection, flood prediction, and urban heat resilience.
• These applications demonstrate AI’s potential to play a transformative role in addressing the effects of climate change.

The climate impact paradox of AI: While AI offers solutions for environmental monitoring and climate action, it also contributes to increased energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

• Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has ambitious climate targets but has reported a sharp increase in emissions, largely due to the expansion of power-hungry data centers supporting AI development.
• This contradiction highlights the dual nature of AI’s impact on climate change, as discussed during a Newsweek Horizons event panel titled “AI: Climate Hero or Climate Villain?”

Expert perspectives on AI’s role in climate action: Researchers and experts in the field emphasize the need for responsible development and application of AI technologies.

• Priya Donti, MIT assistant professor and cofounder of Climate Change AI, points out that AI is being used for both positive environmental projects and activities that contribute to climate change, such as fossil fuel exploitation and encouraging mass consumption.
• Donti stresses that AI is ultimately a tool, and its impact on climate change depends on how people and organizations choose to use it.
• The consensus among experts is that AI acts as an accelerator of societal actions, and its role in fighting climate change will depend on the seriousness with which society approaches the issue.

Balancing AI’s potential with its environmental cost: As AI continues to evolve and find new applications in environmental science and sustainability, the challenge lies in maximizing its benefits while minimizing its negative impact on the environment.

• The development of more energy-efficient AI systems and data centers will be crucial in reducing the technology’s carbon footprint.
• Responsible implementation of AI solutions, focusing on applications that provide the greatest environmental benefits, will be essential in leveraging the technology’s potential for positive change.
• Continued research and collaboration between tech companies, environmental scientists, and policymakers will be necessary to ensure that AI becomes a net positive force in the fight against climate change.