Artificial intelligence is increasingly being applied to climate challenges, from wildfire detection and flood forecasting to public health surveillance and disaster response. But fully realizing that potential requires grappling with real barriers: under-resourced public agencies, fragmented data infrastructure, procurement and equity gaps, and the distance between what a tool can do and what actually lowers risk for frontline communities with compounded vulnerabilities.
Join us for a panel discussion bringing together leaders from public health, emergency management, and California's technology infrastructure alongside practitioners working on AI tools for climate adaptation and crisis response. The conversation will focus on what responsible, equitable deployment of AI for climate and disaster response could look like in practice, and will foreground actionable lessons for public sector practitioners, AI researchers, and computer scientists who hope to contribute meaningfully to public sector adaptation efforts in California and beyond.
Panelists:
- Moderator: Sarah Skenazy / Public Health Lead at Climate Change AI
- Amy Tong / CA Racial Equity Commissioner, Former Senior Counselor to Governor Newsom and Secretary of GovOps
- Mark Ghilarducci / Former Director, California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES)
- Dr. Karen Smith / Former California State Public Health Officer
- Additional panelist from the AI and climate tech sector (to be announced)