How Artificial Intelligence can be used to internally strengthen, not externally control communities (and other visions from Indy Johar)
We’ve been looking for research that might break this ground for quite a while. Which is wondering how the massive data-crunching capacities of AI can be put at the service of communities. Rather than those communities just providing interactive input to big, unaccountable national or global computer platforms. If we took back control of our data, what value could localities make from it?
It’s exciting to see our great friend Indy Johar’s Dark Matter Labs team up with Nesta on this feasibility study, focussing on how AI can address climate issues locally. Above in the graphic is the long-list of use-cases, below is a selection from them:
1: Accounting for the benefits of urban trees
Accounting for the benefits of urban trees
Cities are struggling to match the scale of tree planting needed to meet their net-zero targets, partly because we struggle to measure the vast benefits trees provide us, so we see them as a cost rather than as an investment.
What if we use machine learning to partly automate the process of mapping trees and measuring their benefits to justify upfront investment?
What if AI agents prompted citizens to verify certain datasets or suggested that nearby trees need watering and fruit can be picked?
[More here on trees as infrastructure from Dark Matter]
2: Collective climate action
Responding to the climate crisis will require radical changes to how we live. But sustained change requires actions which are locally appropriate and guided by an understanding of the benefits of taking action (and consequences of not taking action).
How might AI help:-
build shared understanding from diverse perspectives;
use feedback to reinforce collective actions;
and run simulations to identify the gap between the potential impact of local actions and what is required to meet national climate targets?
3: Community energy
Community energy plays a vital role in decarbonising the national grid and boosting local economies. Yet since government support ended in 2019, the sector has struggled, relying heavily on volunteers to set up, administer and operate the projects.
Could AI be used to help to:-
automate site identification;
enable smart ownership contracts;
provide remote fault diagnostics
and simulate potential lifetime revenue and social impact, in order to reduce the risk of upfront investment and subsequent operating costs?
We’re very keen to track these developments, as we anticipate that a Citizens’ Action Network would be partly built from these kinds of available systems - able to map the value of the material and human assets in an area, present this information to citizens, allow them to develop and strengthen weaknesses, build strong networks that can enable new actions.
In addition, we’re posting an interview with Dark Matter Labs’ founder, Indy Johar, where he speaks of what he calls the Boring Revolution (meaning a “bureaucratic” revolution).
This is the very idea that digital infrastructures can give towns, cities and municipalities the power to manage their affairs, in ways previously reserved to powerful states.
Click on the image to the left to listen, or here.