Can AI help solve the climate crisis? | Sims Witherspoon
Sep 20, 2023
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Sims Witherspoon, leader at Google DeepMind, discusses how AI can combat climate change through optimizing wind energy, predicting its availability, and fostering collaboration for responsible deployment.
AI can help predict the availability of wind energy, improving the accuracy of electricity supply predictions.
Collaboration between scientists, technologists, and domain experts is crucial for deploying AI solutions for climate action.
Deep dives
The Power of AI in Fighting Climate Change
AI can be a transformative tool in the fight against climate change. It can help us understand the effects of climate change on Earth's ecosystems, optimize current systems and infrastructure, and accelerate breakthrough science like fusion as a carbon-free energy source.
Harnessing AI for Wind Energy Optimization
Renewable energy sources like wind energy are unpredictable, making it challenging for electricity systems operators. However, AI can accurately predict the availability of wind energy by analyzing historical weather data and turbine power production information. By using AI for supply side forecasting, we can improve the accuracy of electricity supply predictions, enabling renewable electricity managers to meet demand without relying on carbon-intensive fossil fuels.
Collaboration and Real-World Deployment of AI Solutions
Collaboration between scientists, technologists, and domain experts is essential for deploying AI solutions for climate action. Partnerships with companies like Google provide opportunities to test AI systems on real-world wind power capacity. Data availability and deployment partners who are willing to test innovative systems are critical for the scalability and impact of AI solutions in the real world.
"AI can be a transformational tool in our fight against climate change," says Sims Witherspoon, a leader at the AI research lab Google DeepMind. Using wind power as her case study, she explains how powerful neural networks can help us better predict Earth's changing ecosystems and accelerate the breakthrough science needed to create a carbon-free energy supply.