AI won’t give a reprieve to ‘heat hell’ plaguing Earth

It’s difficult to fantasize about various climate solutions involving AI or other technologies while the world climaxes into an inter-continental inferno.

China reports temperatures higher than 125F (around 50C, breaking records). Meanwhile, southern Europe and the Eastern USA languishes in heat and is set to do so for the rest of July, while uncontrollable wildfires rage in Canada and Greece.

While the heat is abating, climate risks remain.

This sudden crescendo comes due to a culmination of environmental factors in the Northern Hemisphere, and while it isn’t set to continue throughout the year at the current intensity, it offers a snapshot into what life will be like as the temperature steadily rises.

Iran reported a heat index of 66C, well over 150F, likely due to increased humidity. Storm chaser Colin McCarthy described the conditions there as “intolerable for human/animal life”. The truth is, if governments were serious about employing somewhat vague, too-good-to-really-be-true technologies like splitting carbon atoms to form oxygen or geoengineering, then there would be a mad scramble by world leaders to get it deployed immediately.

Unfortunately, they are more interested in their own agendas.

Now comes advanced artificial intelligence to the rescue. It’s understood that they can’t outright solve the problems themselves, but they can facilitate for the tracking and brainstorming of solutions. For instance, algorithms are quietly being deployed into wildfire tracking technologies, storm and hurricane surveillance systems as well as being able to perform ludicrously insightful analyzes of satellite imagery from space depicting the effects of the climate crisis, such as crop failure in Africa and now other parts of the world.

That seems to be as far as it can go (for now).

The only real solution to climate change is radical action, but clearly that won’t be happening anytime soon, so the next best option is to use these emerging technologies to minimize the impacts of total environmental failure. Predicting in advance where storms go, simulating how many they might kill or injure, and issuing warnings for residents to leave weeks or months in advance.

OpenAI and other companies are working on a host of AI technologies that will invariably end up being utilized in fields ranging from medicine to agriculture tracking. As we continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis, it’s time to utilize the tech that works and throw away what doesn’t.