When then Tropical Storm Melissa was churning south of Haiti, Philippe Papin, a National Hurricane Center (NHC) meteorologist, had confidence it was about to grow into a monster hurricane.
As the lead forecaster on duty, he predicted that in just 24 hours the storm would become a category 4 hurricane and begin a turn towards the coast of Jamaica. No NHC forecaster had ever issued such a bold forecast for rapid strengthening.
But Papin had an ace up his sleeve: artificial intelligence in the form of Google’s new DeepMind hurricane model – released for the first time in June. And, as predicted, Melissa did become a storm of astonishing strength that tore through Jamaica.
Forecasters at the NHC are increasingly leaning hard on Google DeepMind. On the morning of 25 October, Papin explained in his public discussion and on social media that Google’s model was a primary reason he was so confident: “Roughly 40/50 Google DeepMind ensemble members show Melissa becoming a Category 5. While I am not ready to forecast that intensity yet given the track uncertainty, that remains a possibility.
Ironically, AI is getting better at predicting disasters.
theangriestbird@beehaw.org 1 day ago
Finally, an actually beneficial use case for AI. This is what this technology is good for, pattern predictions based on ridiculously large datasets. But noooo it’s new technology so everyone wants to use it to make themselves rich. I hate this world.
Powderhorn@beehaw.org 1 day ago
Yeah, it actually does change the world. Just not in the way advertised.
locuester@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Yeah that’s how capitalism works. Innovation driven by greed ultimately advances everyone.
theangriestbird@beehaw.org 15 hours ago
maybe it worked like that at one point. it’s clear that it no longer works that way, not when the “innovators” also control all the levers of the economy. Everything is a pump-and-dump scheme these days.