AI is already being used in many ways to combat climate change. Yet, building, training, and using AI comes with an enormous environmental footprint. Will AI ultimately do more harm or good for the planet? In this lesson, students will draw on their prior learning about the potential and pitfalls of AI for the planet and form their own opinions on whether the advantages of AI outweigh its environmental costs. Then, they will explore potential solutions for making AI more sustainable.

AI is already being used to diagnose diseases, make art, and accelerate learning. But can AI help the planet? In this lesson, students will explore a variety of ways that AI is already being used to combat climate change. By examining diverse example use cases, they will begin to construct a framework for the types of problems that AI can help address.

Scientists are already using AI to map environmental risks, analyze huge amounts of climate data, and make predictions to combat climate change. But AI technologies like chatbots also use an enormous amount of energy, and many people are concerned with their environmental costs. In this lesson, students will investigate how these technologies consume energy and water and the broader impact of AI on sustainability.

In this lesson, students will learn how AI is used to analyze whale soundwaves and detect patterns by identifying similar sounds. Students will have the opportunity to listen to real whale sounds and explore a research tool designed by Google, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC). Through this exploration, students will consider the role of AI in marine research and understand why this technology is vital for conservation efforts.

In this lesson, students will apply their knowledge about healthy ecosystems to understanding ways that AI can help conserve the natural world. After studying several example applications, they will engage in a discussion and simulation to evaluate the effectiveness of different AI applications in natural conservation.