Events

CS Colloquium: Optimization-in-the-loop AI for energy and climate

Speaker: Priya Donti

Location: 60 Fifth Avenue, Room 150
Videoconference link: https://nyu.zoom.us/j/94836704933

Date: Thursday, March 24, 2022

Addressing climate change will require concerted action across society,
including the development of innovative technologies. While methods from
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have the
potential to play an important role, these methods often struggle to
contend with the physics, hard constraints, and complex decision-making
processes that are inherent to many climate and energy problems. To
address these limitations, I present the framework of
“optimization-in-the-loop AI,” and show how it can enable the design of
AI models that explicitly capture relevant constraints and
decision-making processes. For instance, this framework can be used to
design learning-based controllers that provably enforce the stability
criteria or operational constraints associated with the systems in which
they operate. It can also enable the design of task-based learning
procedures that are cognizant of the downstream decision-making
processes for which a model’s outputs will be used. By significantly
improving performance and preventing critical failures, such techniques
can unlock the potential of AI and ML for operating low-carbon power
grids, improving energy efficiency in buildings, and addressing other
high-impact problems of relevance to climate action.