Recent Advances in AI for Computational Sustainability

This article intends, at a minimum, to give the briefest glimpse of the papers from the 2011 AAAI Computational Sustainability track, so that interested readers could follow up. Collectively, however, the contributions include representations of much that it might hope to see in an environmentally minded cognitive agent, with competencies in sensing and observation, knowledge-based reasoning, decision-making, and actuation. The creation of such agents could be an exciting and important ambition, with attention paid to agent communication as well. In the near term, however, AI will offer important, albeit specialized, cognitive tools for decision-makers. It is critical that these tools are adopted, adapted, and used by humans. Thus, it is vital that as part of our evaluation methodologies, it move beyond questions concerning technical optimality, and that it work with social, behavioral, and economic scientists to understand the social contexts in which our tools are used (or not)!