Investment in AI for the Planet: $750,000 for Earth Index
We’re excited to announce that through the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Earth Genome will dedicate $750,000 to work with and learn from indigenous peoples and local communities around the world, and co-create a new and accessible user experience for Earth Index.
This investment comes at a key moment. The just published World Economic Forum 2024 Global Risks Report identifies the top four risks we face as a society of the next decade all relate to the environment: extreme weather, earth systems change, biodiversity collapse, natural resource shortages. The following two are technological: adverse impact of AI, misinformation and disinformation. These two groups of extreme risks are tightly related. Just as civilization faces existential threats, our machines are more powerful and accessible than ever. Every person and living thing depends on life-sustaining natural systems which are now managed completely unsustainably, and interventions are inadequately designed, slow and lack ongoing monitoring data. What if AI tools were designed for the earth, and to take advantage of everyone’s knowledge. That is what we do at Earth Genome, and Earth Index is central to our mission.
Earth Index is proving the right approach to accelerate understanding of the planet. Over the next half year, we get to focus on evolving the Earth Index experience to search for evidence of critical environment issues. The goal is to make the power of sophisticated machine learning models accessible to anyone no matter their technical experience, and to enable systems to continually watch for changes as they happen. This will only work with close collaboration with communities, scientists, and policymakers, and this level of engagement is pivotal to overcome the risks of AI technologies.
We’re extremely grateful to the Rockefeller Foundation and Patrick J. McGovern Foundation for their continuing support. This new funding follows previous substantial funding from both, as well as the Craig McCraw Family Foundation, for the first phases of Earth Index development. With their support for emerging nonprofits, a new cohort of changemakers, visionaries, creatives and builders are developing and scaling transformational solutions. Big bets on big ideas in this kind of “frontier” philanthropy are what we need to achieve the breakthroughs needed to address the magnitude of challenges society and the planet face in the coming decade. Now, let’s get building.
