AI Design for Ocean Solutions

Climate change and human industrialization are having an accelerating negative impact on the ocean, which covers 71% of the planet. This hands-on course, co-taught by metaLAB Director of Art & Education Sarah Newman and scientist and ocean enthusiast Heather Newman, will bring generative AI tools and design interventions to some of the biggest climate challenges today. Through a series of short lectures and design-thinking activities, we will use AI tools to creatively approach selected topics in marine and climate science.

In the spirit of all metaLAB (at) Harvard’s initiatives, this interdisciplinary course will use AI to push the boundaries of traditional problem solving. Students will learn about some of the most intractable and important ocean challenges, and use generative AI for brainstorming and creative problem solving. They will build on their experience with design, ideation, and prototyping, and bring these skills to ocean challenges while leveraging and learning about potential benefits (and risks) of using AI in the design process. The course will also examine the environmental impacts of using AI, encouraging students to critically examine the energy demands and resource consumption of AI technologies.

In-class time will be split between learning about ocean and climate topics such as increased storm intensity, ocean acidification, biodiversity loss, sea level rise, pollution, and unsustainable exploitation of resources (including overfishing, deep sea mining, and mangrove removal for coastal development), and exploring possible interventions to address these issues. Outside of class time will be devoted to students’ researching their chosen topics to learn whether their intervention ideas have been previously considered or implemented, and if not, why not, as well as refining their designs and prototypes. By the end of the four-day course, students will each have created a proposed solution for a current ocean problem as a digital or physical prototype to present to the class.

There are no prerequisites for this course. Students will build on their experience with design, ideation, and prototyping, and bring these skills to ocean challenges while leveraging and learning about potential benefits (and risks) of using AI in the design process.

This course is open to GSD students, staff, and affiliates.

Class meets Tuesday, January 7 through Friday, January 10, from 2-4 pm at Harvard. Register for the course!

For more informaton, contact: snewman@metalab.harvard.edu

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