Generative AI technologies applied to ecosystems and the environment: a scoping review

Abstract

This report provides a scoping review of the literature on the ways that novel generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are being applied to living things and other elements of ecosystems and the natural environment. The paper outlines several areas where generative AI is being deployed in new research projects and industry applications. These include animal communication and agriculture and plant cultivation, as well as environmental sustainability, biodiversity, climate change and nature conservation initiatives. The paper also details some of the negative environmental costs and ethical issues associated with the manufacture, training and infrastructure that support generative AI and large language models more generally