Can AI Save Humanity From Climate Change? That's the Wrong Question

It's this indistinct picture of both what the technology is and what it can do that might engender a look of uncertainty on someone's face when asked the question, "Can AI solve climate change?" "Well," we think, "it must be able to do something," while entirely unsure of just how algorithms are meant to pull us back from the ecological brink. The question is loaded, faulty in its assumptions, and more than a little misleading. It is a vital one, however, and the basic premise of utilizing one of the most powerful tools humanity has ever built to address the most existential threat it has ever faced is one that warrants our genuine attention. Machine learning -- the subset of AI that allows for machines to learn from data without explicit programming -- and climate change advocacy and action are relatively new bedfellows.