Researchers using AI to fight illegal fishing, automate plant identification, and track bird habitats are getting a big boost from Jeff Bezos. Amazon’s Bezos Earth Fund, his philanthropic commitment to the fight against climate change, donates $ 30 million to twelve organizations that include environmental technology and cutting-edge technology.
AS concern grows over the power of AI and its contribution to emissions, the Bezos Earth Fund wants to show how technology can help reduce climate impacts. “These projects show that AI, when properly developed and guided by science, can strengthen environmental action, supporting its full benefits and Ameni e Ameni e Bezos Earth Fund, in a statement.
The grant is part of AI for climate and natural environment, an initiative established in 2024 that will invest in the sacrifice of AI solutions driven by AI. Earlier this year, the program awarded $50,000 in grants to 24 different organizations. Fifteen of those now recently will receive $ 2 million each to scale their projects over the next two years, supported by teaching and computer resources from partners that include Amazon Web services, Google and Microsoft research.
Applying technology to climate issues is one of the priorities of the Bezos Earth Fund, alongside conservation efforts, environmental justice, and food system reform. Bezos launched the fund in 2020 with a pledge to invest $10 billion in environmental projects by the end of the decade. To date, it has distributed $2.3 billion in more than 300 projects.
The Bezos Earth Fund is led by Tom Taylor, a former Amazon Executive. Bezos serves as the Fund’s chief executive, while his newlywed wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, has been on its board since 2023.
“AI can be a powerful ally to help make the world a better place,” Sánchez Bezos said in a statement. “Innovators, using AI, are showing us new possibilities by reclaiming the way we grow food, protect wildlife and our power to make a real impact.”
Among the recently funded projects: Delf University of Technology uses neural networks to speed up cultured meat production; The Food Initiative timeline is developing an AI tool to generate healthy cooking suggestions; And the University of Leeds plans to use AI to convert food waste into microbial protein. Other grants include the New York Botanical Garden, Yale University and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The aim is to find the challenge of applying the technological solutions that affect the climate solutions of the new field. At Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology, for example, researchers will use the Fund to develop bioacoustic technology that monitors threatened species such as the geatemale’s manta
“We need to figure out what’s causing the decline and how we can reverse it,” said Ian Owens, director of the Cornell Lab, in a statement. “We can’t do that using traditional methods, and the support from the Bezos Earth Fund will help us unlock the exact kind of efficient, disability-friendly approach we need.”
