The model could help you make important life decisions as the world transforms
TECHNOLOGY
Anew artificial intelligence (AI) tool will help us monitor Earth from space – down to street level. Unveiled at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 in November, its developers NASA and IBM say the tool will measure environmental changes that have already happened and make more accurate predictions about the future. The system could help authorities make emergency plans ahead of extreme weather events, such as those that afflicted the planet in 2023 and also help us avoid deadly disasters in future.
The tool will resemble the 3D satellite-visualisation computer program Google Earth, although algorithms enable users to toggle between overlays such as tree cover, carbon emissions and risks of flooding or wildfires. And in 2024 it’ll be available to everyone: nations, corporations, charities and you.
In theory, you could use it to plan where you should or shouldn’t travel, or buy a house, according to Dr Juan Bernabé-Moreno, director of IBM Research Europe for Ireland and the UK.
“The use of the application is really up to the people,” Bernabé-Moreno told BBC Science Focus. “Making it open-source means putting it in the hands of the community.”
The tool is an AI-powered foundation model that can map out complex systems using raw data. IBM built it using NASA’s expertise and massive datasets, including information
