Could artificial intelligence hold the key to predicting earthquakes?

Can artificial intelligence, or machine learning, be deployed to predict earthquakes, potentially saving thousands of lives around the world? Some seismologists are working to find out. But they know such efforts are eyed with suspicion in the field. "You're viewed as a nutcase if you say you think you're going to make progress on predicting earthquakes," Paul Johnson, a geophysicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, told Scientific American. In the past, scientists have used various criteria to try to predict earthquakes, including foreshocks, electromagnetic disturbances, changes in groundwater chemistry.