Introduction — AI for Climate Action

About Me:

Hello, my name is Martina and I am a high school Junior in Philadelphia. While I was born in Mexico, I have lived all over the world, and I have found my passion for the sciences and Artificial Intelligence. We are living in a time of unrest and uncertainty, but it is undeniable that AI will play a crucial role in the future, and I want to be a part of it. From biased data to biased algorithms, inequities will continue to exist in our society unless we actively work against them; I believe that one of the most powerful ways to decrease bias in AI is to dramatically increase diversity within the emerging field. Not only do I want to build ethical algorithms in order to avoid further perpetuating these inequalities, but I want to dismantle the systems of oppression that are already in existence, and AI can help me do that.

My experience with AI Scholars:

I am currently halfway through my AI Scholars class and it has been a fantastic experience. For the first half of the program, I worked with instructor Eric Bradford to explore the many different applications of AI. While I was familiar with some, such as object recognition and neural networks, I had not previously heard about others, such as regression and natural language processing. Currently, I am working with Mark Torres to write a Fake News detection algorithm, which is particularly relevant in this political and social climate.

Blog Miniseries Topic:

In my blog, I essentially want to focus on how AI is being used for good. The unknown is scary, and there are a lot of things we don’t know about AI, but I hope that by allowing ourselves to see how it can be used as an agent for positive change, we will recognize its potential. One of the fields in which AI is most urgently needed is Environmental action. While AI is not a silver bullet that can make all of our problems go away, if applied correctly, it can help to address the multitude of diverse issues and symptoms associated with the climate emergency. In the coming weeks, I will focus on 3 specific situations in which AI is being used to combat climate change, providing both a high-level overview as well as specific examples. The three situations I will focus on are how AI is been used to decrease energy consumption in the transportation industry, increase efficiency in buildings through smart technology, and assist in better managing crises and natural emergencies which will become more frequent and severe because of climate change.

Who the blog is for, what I hope to accomplish:

My posts are intended for programmers and non-programmers alike. While I hope that it is interesting to other computer scientists, I am not writing about the implementation of the coding itself but rather what effects its applications can have. I hope that through reading these posts you are able to see the potential in this new technology and that while it is scary and new, and even dangerous in the wrong hands, it can also be a powerful catalyst for change in a world that desperately needs it. Both AI and Climate Change will impact everyone, and everyone has it within their power to join the fight.

Martina Kiewek is a Student Ambassador in the Inspirit AI Student Ambassadors Program. Inspirit AI is a pre-collegiate enrichment program that exposes curious high school students globally to AI through live online classes. Learn more at https://www.inspiritai.com/.