Millions of farmers around the world rely on rain for their crops, but don’t have access to accurate weather forecasts that could help them decide when to plant, when to harvest, what crops to plant, and when to use inputs like fertilizer, pesticides, and irrigation.
With a seed grant from the Laude Institute's inaugural Moonshots program, Pedram Hassanzadeh (Associate Professor of Geophysical Sciences; Director of AI for Climate Initiative), Nobel laureate Michael Kremer (University Professor in Economics and the College and the Harris School of Public Policy), Ian Foster (Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor of Computer Science; Distinguished Fellow & Senior Scientist, MCS Division, Argonne National Lab), and Rebecca Willett (Worah Family Professor of Statistics and Computer Science in the Wallman Society of Fellows; Faculty Director of AI, Data Science Institute) are developing AI-based forecasting technology to support farmers and citizens around the world to plan agricultural decisions, public health decisions, and avoid extreme heat.
This project’s goal is to combine AI weather and climate models, data from developing countries, and metrics that are explicitly designed to reflect farmer and public health concerns to deliver forecasts that can inform their decision-making to improve public health and agriculture.
“AI is redefining what’s possible in modeling the Earth system. For example, it allows for the development of faster and cheaper weather forecasts that can be tailored to local needs, making them a game changer for developing countries on the frontlines of climate change,” says Hassanzadeh. “By bridging disciplines and moving the rapidly advancing theoretical work of AI and climate scientists beyond the lab—just two years after our team helped co-develop FourCastNet, the first pioneering global AI weather model—this project will deliver transformative tools to harness this AI-driven revolution and better prepare vulnerable communities for the climate realities they face today.”
The team is actively working on partnerships to reach hundreds of millions of additional beneficiaries. Through partnerships with the Asian Development Bank, the team has already initiated conversations with officials from four other countries in Asia. Hassanzadeh’s team also runs a training program on AI-based weather forecasting for officials from Meteorological Offices, with five countries (Bangladesh, Chile, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria) participating in 2025 and a further five (Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Rwanda, and Senegal) scheduled to participate in 2026.
Source : uchicago.edu