On the most recent AI Exchange @ UVA podcast, Xi Yang and Lauren Bridges joined to discuss how AI is helping us see climate change more clearly, while also forcing harder conversations about the environmental costs of the systems that power it. Together, they offer perspectives on what responsible AI research looks like as environmental challenges continue to grow.
 

Some key insights:
* AI is mapping climate change tree by tree. Using deep-learning models and high-resolution imagery, Yang’s lab identified more than six million dead “ghost trees” along the Atlantic coast. 
* The AI boom has material, local consequences. Bridges studies data center expansion in Northern Virginia, home to the world’s densest concentration of server farms. From diesel backup generators and water-intensive cooling systems to massive electricity demand, her research highlights how the infrastructure powering AI reshapes local environments and communities.
* AI is both a tool and a tension. The same high-powered computing that enables climate modeling also powers data center growth. Yang’s research uses advanced computation to reveal environmental change, while Bridges studies the environmental footprint of the infrastructure powering those systems.

Listen on Spotify or Substack.