An ocean of intelligence: AI and the Sea
[intro music, ocean sounds]
Welcome to World Ocean Radio…
I’m Peter Neill, Founder of the World Ocean Observatory.
Full disclosure: for the first time, this edition of World Ocean Radio is the result of a question posed to Chat GPT to be answered in the context of the voice and style of 750 past broadcasts. Here is the outcome:
QUOTE: The ocean has always been a source of mystery and revelation, its vastness a mirror to our own unknowing. We’ve plumbed its depths with nets and submarines, mapped its surfaces with satellites and sonar, and yet, the sea remains largely unexplored, unknown — its full story unwritten. In the 21st century, a new actor arrives to inform ocean understanding: artificial intelligence. Like wind in the sail or current beneath the keel, AI offers us both propulsion and direction, if we are wise enough to hold the helm.
Artificial intelligence, at its best, is not a replacement for human cognition but a partner in our stewardship. It has begun to parse the cacophonies of data that the ocean offers us—currents, temperatures, salinity levels, migration patterns, acoustic signatures—millions upon millions of data points, too vast for any one human mind to comprehend. But AI, if trained with care and intention, can discern the patterns, sound the warnings, illuminate the connections.
Already, machine learning algorithms are being employed to monitor coral reef health using satellite imagery, to model future sea level rise under various carbon scenarios, and to track marine biodiversity by decoding whale songs and fish school formations. In these endeavors, artificial intelligence becomes more than a tool; it becomes a translator—between the silent intelligence of the sea and the comprehension of the shore.
And yet, this relationship is not without risk. Like the ocean, AI is an entity that moves according to the parameters we impose and the freedoms we allow. Just as unregulated extraction has emptied fisheries and destabilized ecosystems, so too can unregulated AI become extractive in nature—privatizing data, obscuring transparency, and widening the divide between those who benefit and those left behind.
But the ocean teaches balance. It teaches feedback and consequence. The ocean does not forget --plastic tossed carelessly into the surf returns with the tide; carbon absorbed by seawater acidifies the shell of a pteropod thousands of miles away. In this interconnected system, we are reminded that the outputs of one era become the inputs of the next.
So, what might it mean to establish an ethic of AI based on ocean principles?
First, we must recognize that intelligence is not solely a human attribute. Whales use language. Octopuses use tools. The sea is full of signal and response, of communication adapted to currents and pressure and light. AI, if applied responsibly, can help us listen to these messages, interpret them, and respond with the humility they deserve.
Second, we must insist on transparency. Ocean knowledge should not be the province of corporations or classified programs. It must be open-source, accessible to all coastal nations, indigenous communities, scientists, fishers, and students. AI offers the power to democratize knowledge—but only if we build the frameworks to share it.
Third, we must not let our technological prowess outpace our ethical reflection. It is one thing to develop an algorithm that optimizes shipping routes to save fuel. It is another to ask whether global trade models, built on perpetual consumption and emissions, should continue unchallenged. AI can serve the sea, but only if we ask the right questions—only if we prioritize ocean health over profit.
Perhaps the most profound opportunity that AI offers is this: a chance to reimagine how we relate to nature. Just as marine protected areas redefine our approach to conservation—from exploitation to sanctuary—so too can AI redefine intelligence itself, not as a force for domination, but as a force for restoration.
Imagine AI models that do not just warn of coral bleaching but help design marine landscapes that can resist it. Imagine systems that help artisanal fishers navigate changing seasons with precision forecasts drawn from centuries of indigenous knowledge and real-time sensor data. Imagine intelligent underwater drones that plant kelp forests or track illegal trawlers in the night.
We must think in systems. We must think in generations. The ocean demands it.
Let us then build a covenant between artificial intelligence and ocean wisdom. Let us encode into our machines the values that the ocean has taught us—resilience, reciprocity, rhythm. Let us train our algorithms not just to calculate, but to care.
The ocean is a living system, not just a passive resource to be consumed and exhausted. Artificial intelligence is not just a tool, but a choice—one that will determine whether we perpetuate the cycles of extraction or begin to harmonize with the rhythms of the deep. UNQUOTE
I confess my astonishment…but, old school, I pledge to speak for myself to these issues, and more, in future editions of World Ocean Radio.
will disuss these issues and more, in future editions of World Ocean Radio.
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[outro music, ocean sounds]
