Maddie Donnelly

These are some great ways that AI can be used to help address climate change. I read that the first month of the COVID lock down was the cleanest the sky had been in decades across the world. I do not know the numbers, but it could have added up to a year on the timeline. I also wonder if AI can be used to find sites that violate climate laws. If it can trace pollutants back to a factory then it would be easier to hold companies accountable.

Thanks for sharing Maddie! Really interesting AI concepts to learn about here in regards to climate change. I didn’t think about how the pandemic has helped our world in some way until you mentioned the lack of commuters commuting to work. My dad drives in and out of Jersey City with traffic taking about 2 hours each way. Since the pandemic, he’s been working from home. Not only was joining him on that commute exhausting when I was working in NYC, but the amount of cars on the Garden State in the mornings…
AI has certainly been a great help in the combat of preserving and saving our environment. I know in California there’s a mandate that by 2035, all cars and trucks sold in California will be zero-emission vehicles. Hopefully many other populous/metropolitan areas will follow so we can get the ball moving.

Maddie,

Thanks for sharing. It is quite interesting to thin about how AI can impact all aspects of our lives. The future of technology and AI in general seems to almost have no limits! Although there is still a lot of work to do in order to preserve our environments, it is great to see initiative and individuals that are working to build awareness and take action.

Claire

Maddie, this is a great piece you wrote. I think I am the only person in the U.S. that didn’t know about the world clock in Manhattan. That is beyond cool and scary at the same time. Climate change has always been a huge effect on the earth that everyone just wants to ignore but it’s a real problem. This pandemic has actually showed how much we can save energy by staying at home. With the help of AI soon you will be able to put on a pair of glasses and be in the classroom without actually being there. Not only is this great for the environment but it also creates real world scenarios for people may not like to work from home. I think Elon Musk has done a great job over the past few years focusing on climate change and bringing more awareness to it. He has such a good standpoint on the role and has great plans to integrate AI with climate change.

I never thought about the impact on snow days. This pandemic could be the worst thing to happen to one of the most magical days as a child. I think there will be a big push for improved technology across all industries after COVID, but your research makes me realize that the medical field may see the biggest change. While hospitals have been working to improve technology usage, the average doctor’s office has not changed much in the past 20 years. This could be the push they need to start modernizing their systems.

Sean – Agreed! Snow days were the best. I can’t imagine having to do my schoolwork online when I could be outside sledding in the backyard or at the park.

I took in an interest in your post Maddie because I am a full time patient basically. I have used the telehealth method a few times during the pandemic and it was helpful because I was definitely scared and hesitant with going into the offices. It also saved me time and money because I didn’t have to travel nor spend time waiting for the actual professional to speak with us which usually takes FOREVER. I believe that telehealth services will tremendously advance the healthcare industry post covid. It makes the operations easier for Doctors as well because not every patient has to be there. I did not think about the cybersecurity aspect though and I think that is very important! Patient’s data is very private and important. It should be secure and there needs to be protection put in place for this. While I know going in to the doctor’s office is still so critical for me and other patients, I do agree that these telehealth medical services will further the digitization of the healthcare/medical sector and make it easier for all parties involved.

Even before COVID, health care industries were competing to differentiate themselves from each other such as having a dermatologist or specialist on call. Seeing how COVID pretty much synced everyone into a virtual aspect, it’ll be interesting to see the rapid growth in technology in this industry. Offices will cut down on their rent space from seeing that multiple employees can work virtually and main professionally. Telehealth for a senior citizen would also be one of my concerns with them not being tech-savvy. Doctors or pharmacists would have to use a portal to generate a daily call list to see how patients adhere to medications.

It is really interesting how COVID-19 has affected the health care industry. There are obviously some things you need to go into the doctors office for, but improvements to telehealth services do seem like the safest way for providers to interact with highly contagious patients (whose symptoms are not life threatening of course). If you have mild symptoms of COVID, the likely only health care worker you interact with these days in person is whoever is giving you your test (and even then they are dressed head to toe in PPE). I wonder how this is going to change the way doctors appointments will go in the future. I don’t know how often sicknesses spread from patients normally, but I feel like it would be a lot safer for doctors and nurses overall if those who are sick only interact with them in person when necessary.

I do think you are right when you mention that there are problems we will have to overcome with tele-health. For one, a lot of people in low-income neighborhoods don’t have the same level of access to the Internet and technology as people with more money and resources. The second problem is definitely cybersecurity – health care information is highly sensitive and needs to be protected. However, overall I do think the benefits outweigh the challenges and we will be moving to a future where telehealth is the norm.

Great post Maddie. It’s so true, the pandemic has shaped so much more than we think. At first glance, students were impacted by having to adapt to online classes. As you said, it goes beyond that. It’s proven that people can be productive at home. Presently, will teachers expect students to complete homework on snow days and other days off? Will classes scheduled for weekends? When it come to working, will employers expect their employees to work at home when they are sick or on vacation. Technology makes this feasible. Another point you brought to light was about health care. It’s great that people can get treated without having to go into the office and further risk infecting others. As this is a positive, I also feel a doctor will be more likely to miss something because they cannot touch or physically see their patients.

Hi Maddie! Certainly data privacy has been a big concern for consumers – the vast majority of applications we use on a daily-basis have access to much of our personal information. Marketers have access to so much information nowadays that there is greater opportunity for target outreach, which is great! But at the same time, it is equally concerning on how this data is being applied.
I know for myself I barely ever read the terms and conditions or the cookies policy – I don’t have the patience for it. But I think it’s important to have an idea about where your data is going to. I think people need to be a little more aware about how their data is being used.

That is an interesting concept that firms, and the internet at large, does not care about me as an individual, and true. However, that does not excuse them from treating my data as the raw material it is. A miner gets paid for providing the coal that powers the internet. Should I get paid for providing the data that powers the companies bottom line on the internet?

I do feel that in the business world, this is the common practice. They look at you as a customer, and how they can make money off of you vs. caring for you as an individual. As someone who has set up ads and used cookies to target a very specific audience, it can make marketing so much easier and the data you collect is pretty clear (or at least a first step). Traditional advertising makes it difficult to see what the ROI is – whether they are print, billboards, radio, etc. I definitely agree with you – digital advertising has its pros and cons. In my opinion – the pros definitely sit with the advertisers and some of the cons with the consumer and the privacy issues.

Hi Maddie! I’ve enjoyed looking through your website, hearing about your journey to get to this program, and all of your interests. Like you, I’ve also picked up reading again during quarantine. I used to love reading when I was younger, but as you said, being in college made it hard to find time to read for fun. I’ve been reading more sci-fi titles myself, but I have bookmarked your link to the 100 Best American Literature reading list. I think that’s an awesome challenge to work on!