Watch: AI Tools for Addressing Conservation and Biodiversity

Expert panelists shared insights on how AI technologies can enhance biodiversity conservation efforts through real-time monitoring, predictive modeling, and targeted species protection. Discussions covered recent technological advancements, the challenges of implementing AI solutions, and their implications for policymakers in safeguarding ecosystems against climate change and environmental degradation.

Some key points from the discussion:

• Nathaniel Roth: “Artificial intelligence is emerging as a powerful tool in addressing these challenges, offering new ways to monitor species, predict environmental changes, and enhance conservation strategies. Indeed, AI is already here. It’s an essential part of biodiversity conservation now.”
• Sara Beery on AI’s potential to unlock insights from massive biodiversity datasets: “There’s so much information in the data we’ve collected that we just can’t currently harness.” On energy usage: “One thing that kind of gets lost in the nuance of these conversations is that not all AI is created equal when it comes to computational cost…” “Most of the AI we’ve been talking about today, with the exception of those large language models, are small AI.”
• Melissa Chapman emphasizing the human role in conservation decisions: “A lot of decisions that policymakers, or land managers, or most people in the conservation domain are trying to make, are really value driven decisions.” … “It ultimately rests on the community agreeing on what the goal is. AI is not going to decide that for us.”
• Bistra Dilkina on how she uses AI for more effective decision making, planning, and resource allocation: “A related problem that also has a connection to biodiversity is planning where to do prescribed fire burns in order to minimize wildfire risk. And in that work, again, it’s a planning problem with limited resources.”
• Kumar Mainali on a promising application of AI when paired with high resolution data sets: “Precision conservation, meaning, we want to know exactly what’s happening at very precise location rather than making a prediction.”

Learn more about using AI for biodiversity and conservation:
Download the CCST One Pager (PDF)

Moderator and Panelists:

Nathaniel Roth, PhD, GISP
Moderator
Chief Scientific and Data Advisor
California Department of Conservation

Sara Beery, PhD
Assistant Professor of AI and Decision-Making
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Melissa Chapman, PhD
ETH Zürich & National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
Google Research Visiting Faculty Researcher; Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow, NCEAS, Climate Change AI (CCAI) Core team

Bistra Dilkina, PhD
Co-Director,
Center for AI in Society (CAIS)
Associate Professor of Computer Science and Industrial & Systems Engineering; Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Early Career Chair in Computer Science
University of Southern California (USC)

Kumar Mainali, PhD
Senior Data Scientist
Chesapeake Conservancy
Adjunct Faculty and Visiting Assistant Research Scientist, University of Maryland, College Park; Adjunct Faculty, University of Maryland; Adjunct Professor, School of Management, Kathmandu University

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About the California Council on Science and Technology
The California Council on Science and Technology is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established via the California State Legislature in 1988. CCST responds to the Governor, the Legislature, and other State entities who request independent assessment of public policy issues affecting the State of California relating to science and technology. CCST engages leading experts in science and technology to advise state policymakers—ensuring that California policy is strengthened and informed by scientific knowledge, research, and innovation.