Here are 10 ways AI could help fight climate change

Some of the biggest names in AI research have laid out a road map suggesting how machine learning can help save our planet and humanity from imminent peril. The report covers possible machine-learning interventions in 13 domains, from electricity systems to farms and forests to climate prediction. Within each domain, it breaks out the contributions for various subdisciplines within machine learning, including computer vision, natural-language processing, and reinforcement learning. Recommendations are also divided into three categories: "high leverage" for problems well suited to machine learning where such interventions may have an especially great impact; "long-term" for solutions that won't have payoffs until 2040; and "high risk" for pursuits that have less certain outcomes, either because the technology isn't mature or because not enough is known to assess the consequences. Many of the recommendations also summarize existing efforts that are already happening but not yet at scale.