First look: Schatz and Sheehy eye AI to tame extreme weather
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Sen. Brian Schatz is out with bipartisan legislation that would unleash AI to protect communities from extreme weather events.
Why it matters: The bill, first seen by Axios, is a serious effort to lean on artificial intelligence to better predict and respond to increasingly devastating wildfires, hurricanes, floods and other disasters.
- The legislation comes as NOAA faces steep cuts to staffing and climate change initiatives.
Zoom in: The TAME Extreme Weather and Wildfires Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Tim Sheehy, would direct NOAA to develop a U.S. global weather dataset to train AI forecasting models.
- NOAA would also partner with the private and academic sectors on AI weather and wildfire forecasting, and innovate new AI weather and wildfire products and applications.
- Rep. Scott Franklin introduced a House companion bill.
What they're saying: "Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, more severe, and more deadly, and AI can be a powerful tool in saving lives and livelihoods," Schatz said in a statement.
- "Our bill will harness AI's immense processing and prediction capabilities to improve weather forecasts and help communities better prepare for and respond more quickly to extreme weather events."
- The government response to extreme weather "hasn't changed in decades," Sheehy said. AI could provide answers to "know where, how big, and how bad weather is going to be, and can take preventative measures."
Context: A record 28 disasters across the U.S. in 2023 killed nearly 500 people, and each cost at least $1 billion in damage.
