Visualizing AI to improve climate change response
The all-female Dada Project team, led by Christina Warner, has partnered with Google DeepMind to explore the intersection of AI and sustainability: two new films, poetically visualized by the 3D Motion Studio, depict how the technology can deepen our understanding of global warming and its impacts on ecosystems, as well as improve predictions of extreme weather events.
The first film, “AI for Sustainability,” focuses on AI’s ability to provide insights into Earth’s ecosystems at various scales, highlighting its role in analyzing vast amounts of real-time and historical data to predict and mitigate risks. In particular, it highlights AI’s role in protecting vital marine ecosystems, such as the efficient CO2 absorption of algae. The second film, “Weather, Climate, and Nowcasting,” visualizes different stages of weather scenarios and showcases AI’s important role in disaster prediction.
All images courtesy of Dada Projects
dada project partners with Google DeepMind
The team spent time with scientists, engineers, researchers and ethicists to discuss key themes in AI, and used these conversations as a catalyst to create new artwork for the film. Given complete creative freedom, the brief explicitly called for a visual interpretation of the shared knowledge through Dada Projects’ unique lens. Having completed its first AI-based project, the studio used advanced software tools to inform cutting-edge developments from Google DeepMind (more here). They are using AI to enhance climate models to understand climate change patterns and improve predictions of extreme weather, helping communities around the world prepare and respond.
The first film, “AI for Sustainability,” aims to highlight how AI can provide insights into Earth’s ecosystems at both macro and micro scales. The Betsiboca estuary in Madagascar caught Dada Projects’ attention as one of the world’s most rapidly changing coastlines. Using DEM Earth, a plugin for Cinema 4D (C4D), they extracted precise geographic coordinates from sources like Google Maps to accurately visualize the estuary. The team then applied textures to the terrain to reveal the intricate details and importance of these habitats, including a space-perspective depiction of the ecosystem and microscopic focus of the coral reef.
Christina Warner’s Dada Project teams up with Google DeepMind
Two films visualize the power of AI in sustainability
Additionally, Touch Designer was used to visualize AI’s computational power, including the rapid collection and processing of data, showcasing AI’s generative and dynamic ability to process vast amounts of information quickly and efficiently. In this way, the film highlights AI’s holistic view of the impacts of climate change on Earth’s ecosystems, helping communities and ecosystems address the effects of climate change and pave the way for a more sustainable future.
In the film Weather, Climate and Nowcasting, Dada Projects explores how as climate change worsens weather, AI will be key in predicting disasters before they happen, enabling better preparation and mitigation. AI can help forecast cyclones and floods, enhancing disaster preparedness by predicting the likelihood of precipitation and flooding. Through slow-motion footage and changing colors representing temperature changes, it is shown how AI can predict the likelihood of cyclones, precipitation and flooding, and mitigate their impacts. Using C4D, Houdini and tracking software, data points were mapped onto abstract representations of cyclones, atmospheric rivers and floods, demonstrating AI’s analytical and processing capabilities.
Two new films show how AI is leading to a better understanding of global warming.
AI has revolutionized weather forecasting and nowcasting by processing massive datasets from satellites, weather stations, and radar systems to uncover complex patterns and relationships, improving prediction accuracy. In nowcasting, AI’s contributions to real-time data analysis, image recognition, and numerical weather prediction models enable more accurate short-term weather forecasts. Beyond accuracy, AI can significantly improve our ability to predict extreme weather events, aiding in disaster preparedness and response. Integrating AI into decision support systems can provide timely information to emergency responders, contributing to a more resilient and adaptive approach to managing dynamic atmospheric conditions.
These films highlight the speed and analytical power of AI, demonstrating its potential to benefit communities and foster a sustainable future. “AI is a seamless tool in our creative workflow, making our process more efficient and expanding our creative reach. The relationship between artists and AI is evolving, fostering collaboration and pushing the boundaries of creativity, and we’re incredibly grateful to Google DeepMind for choosing us to collaborate on this project,” said Christina Worner. “AI is transformative and opens up a huge range of future possibilities. Google DeepMind is proud to partner with artists around the world to explore these futures,” said Dex Hunter-Torricke, head of communications and marketing at Google DeepMind.
Visualization of Microcorals
Visualization of coral topography
The film “AI for Sustainability” highlights the ability of AI to provide insights into the Earth’s ecosystems at different scales.
Weather, Climate, Nowcasting showcases AI’s key role in disaster prediction
