Innovation & Conservation: Can AI Solve Climate Change?

AI is playing a growing role in the fight against climate change, with both promising applications and significant challenges. While AI's innovative capabilities provide hope, its environmental footprint raises important questions.

How AI Helps the Environment:
Forest Preservation and Wildlife Protection: AI tools like Global Forest Watch use satellite imagery and machine learning to monitor illegal deforestation and track endangered species. For example, in Brazil, AI has been instrumental in identifying deforestation hotspots in the Amazon.

How AI Hurts the Environment:
High Energy Consumption: Training large AI models, like ChatGPT, requires immense computational power, which increases electricity use and carbon emissions. For instance, training a single AI model can emit as much CO₂ as five cars over their lifetimes.

Your Task:
Imagine you have the opportunity to create an AI tool to improve your community’s environmental impact while also addressing the energy demands of running AI itself.

1. Choose a specific challenge in your area (e.g., waste management, pollution, energy efficiency) and design an AI-powered solution.

2. Describe what problem it solves, how it works, and even draw a quick sketch if you have time.

3. Make sure your solution must include a clever offset to its energy consumption, such as integrating renewable energy, reducing waste, or fundraising.