AI patents show mixed impact on climate innovation

An analysis of over 6 million US patents from 1976 to 2019 reveals the broad extent of artificial intelligence in climate-related patents, especially in transportation, energy, and industrial technologies. AI is notably prevalent in adaptation and transportation within highly cited patents. AI-based climate patents lead to 30-100% more subsequent inventions and garner more citations from outside the climate field, underscoring the need to monitor both invention activity and subsequent innovations.

However, the study also found many areas of concern about the scope and effectiveness of AI in directly addressing climate challenges. Fewer AI applications are found in buildings, waste management, and carbon capture technologies. And subsequent innovations spurred by AI climate solutions were less likely to generate further climate-related inventions and more likely to spill over into non-climate domains.

As AI becomes more prevalent in climate solutions, it will be important to monitor how investments can be better targeted to addressing climate problems rather simply contributing to broader advances in AI, and spurring efforts to fill in gaps in applications beyond transportation.