AI and Climate Change: the Good, the Bad, and the Uncertain

The advent of AI offers opportunities to employ this technology in the fight against climate change, but it also contributes to global warming. Join us for an online discussion by leading experts on the relationships between two of the dominant, quickly evolving characteristics of modern human society. This distinguished online panel will be moderated by Dr. Peter Lewis, Canada Research Chair and Director of the Mindful AI Research Institute at Ontario Tech University, and our lineup of discussants includes:

Panelists:

Dr. Merlin Chatwin, Executive Director of Open North

Over the last decade, Merlin Chatwin’s professional and academic pursuits have focused on supporting governments to more effectively identify and address the needs of residents. He spent four years working directly with local governments in Ghana, founding a Canadian start-up that supported valuation-led taxation reform in different regions of the country. Merlin’s extensive domestic and international experience focusing on public consultation, policy development and local government reform led him to Open North. As the Executive Director, Merlin is steering the Montreal-based organization onto an international stage, with a fully remote workplace operating on a 4-day workweek. Merlin recently began a postdoctoral position at Ontario Tech University, where his research takes a decolonial perspective to critically examine how AI technologies are disseminated from the West to the global majority.

Dr. Hannah Kerner, Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, Arizona State University

Hannah Kerner is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence at Arizona State University. Her research focuses on advancing the foundations and applications of machine learning to foster a more sustainable, responsible, and fair future for all. As the AI Lead for NASA's agriculture programs, NASA Harvest and NASA Acres, she is deploying research methods in real applications across the globe; her projects have directly resulted in optimized agricultural planning, disaster response, and financial relief in various regions around the world. The impact of Kerner’s research was recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 and the International Research Centre On Artificial Intelligence's Top 10 projects solving problems related to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals with AI. 

Dr. Tamara Kneese, Director, Climate, Technology, and Justice Program at Data & Society Research Institute

Tamara Kneese directs Data & Society Research Institute's Climate, Justice, and Technology program and previously led the Algorithmic Impact Methods Lab (AIMLab). Before joining D&S, she was lead researcher at Green Software Foundation, director of developer engagement on the Green Software team at Intel, and assistant professor of Media Studies and director of Gender and Sexualities Studies at the University of San Francisco. Tamara holds a PhD in Media, Culture and Communication from NYU. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Internet Society Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Intel Science & Technology Center for Social Computing; the Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine; and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Dr. Theresa Miedema, Associate Teaching Professor, Faculty of Business & IT at Ontario Tech University

Dr. Theresa Miedema is an Associate Teaching Professor at the Faculty of Business & IT, Ontario Tech University, where she teaches courses on business and sustainability; business law and ethics; and the law and ethics of analytics and AI.  Her legal research and practice have blended international development; the regulation of the ICT sector; and ethical dimensions of digital technology. She recently completed training to become an Ambassador for Climate Interactive’s En-Roads Climate Policy Simulator.  Dr. Miedema’s interest in digital technology and sustainability has led her to work on projects with the International Telecommunication Union, The World Bank, info-Dev, the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority, and the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, UC Berkeley.

Moderator:

Dr. Peter Lewis, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business & IT at Ontario Tech University

Dr. Peter Lewis holds a Canada Research Chair in Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence at Ontario Tech University, where he is an Associate Professor and Director of the Mindful AI Research Institute, the university's interdisciplinary and cross-faculty research institute on AI. Peter’s research advances both foundational and applied aspects of AI and draws on extensive experience applying AI commercially and in the non-profit sector. He is interested in where AI meets society, and how to help that relationship work well. His current research is concerned with challenges of trust, bias, and accessibility in AI, as well as how to create more socially intelligent and reflective AI systems, such that they work well as part of society, explicitly taking into account human factors such as norms, values, social action, and trust.