How AI is already shaping your hurricane forecasts

After a hurricane passes, scientists routinely analyze the assorted computer models used to predict its path and power and crown a victor. This year, a surprising new contender has emerged — a forecast model generated by artificial intelligence.

How is it faring? Well, the single best-performing model for last month’s Hurricane Erin was Google DeepMind, a relative AI newcomer in the storm prediction field. Yes, it’s a small sample size. But although the technology can be over-hyped in some places, it already holds a great deal of promise in the notoriously fickle field of weather forecasting. Some experts say their weather and storm predictions could be — and may already be — faster, more accurate, cheaper and less energy intensive to produce than traditional models.

The National Hurrica