Date: October 10th, 2024 |听Time: 6:00PM | Free Event
Location: The 91社区 Faculty Club:听3450 McTavish St.
As technological innovation continues to transform our world, there is growing optimism about AI's potential to contribute to sustainability and climate action. In engineering and urban planning sectors, AI is paving the way for more efficient resource management, optimized infrastructure design, and smarter city planning, all of which are essential for building sustainable and resilient communities.
However, alongside these hopes come significant concerns about the unintended consequences of rapid technological advancement. In this year's keynote, Prof. Victor Galaz will challenge the prevalent notion that AI can be an unequivocal force for good in the face of climate and environmental crises. While AI has promising applications, its unchecked deployment could accelerate environmental degradation, create intensify inequalities, and exacerbate risks to our planet and its inhabitants.
Following the presentation, an expert panel will weigh the potential of AI for social good, against its possible pitfalls. Discussions will focus on harnessing AI's promise for creating resilient, sustainable, and equitable futures while also considering the ethical and societal implications of its use.
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Keynote Presentation
Title: Climate Action in an Era of Dark Machines 鈥� making sense of AI for climate change action and sustainability
Presented by Prof. Victor Galaz,听Stockholm Resilience Centre
Victor Galaz is an associate professor in political science at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and programme director of the Beijer Institute鈥檚 Governance, Technology and Complexity programme. He is also co-Editor-in-Chief for the journal Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (COSUST), and was a Board Member of The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) between 2021-2023.
His research explores the political and governance challenges created by rapid global change, including globally networked risks, governance dimensions of 鈥減lanetary boundaries鈥�, the interplay between financial systems and Earth system dynamics, and the sustainability implications of novel technologies.
Panelists
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Prof. Emma Frejinger
Emma Frejinger is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Operations Research at Universit茅 de Montr茅al where she holds a Canada Research Chair and an industrial chair funded by the Canadian National Railway Company.
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Prof. David Rolnick
David Rolnick is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Canada CIFAR AI Chair at 91社区 and at Mila Quebec AI Institute, where his work focuses on applications of machine learning to help address climate change.听
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