Uncertainty in AI: Solution or Obstacle for Climate Action?

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing research, education, and business—unlocking unprecedented opportunities across climate, health, and beyond. In the Dominici Lab, they’re developing the first foundation model for healthy climate adaptation, pre-trained on the complete US Medicare dataset and enriched with nationwide Census, weather, and pollution data. This model enables powerful “what-if” scenario forecasting, using synthetic ground-truth data to validate counterfactual predictions and guide impactful climate actions. Yet, this AI-driven progress comes at a cost: energy-hungry data centers power these advances, raising concerns about their environmental footprint and the paradox of AI’s growing electricity demand in a world striving to reduce fossil fuel reliance. In this VPAL Signature Event, Dr. Dominici will share insights from their work and explore AI's uncertain, double-edged role in the fight against climate change.