Beyond Extraction: What Can AI Actually Do for Bioregional Regeneration?
AI is on a largely extractive trajectory: extensive energy and mineral demands, expanding surveillance, concentrated power, deployment outpacing regulation, and the enclosure of local and Indigenous knowledge – among other issues. It is also here to stay, in some form, inviting us to ask: which approaches and applications of AI can serve bioregional regeneration, and under what conditions? How can we use AI to strengthen living systems while accounting for its costs? And where is AI genuinely necessary, where is it being overclaimed, and how do we weigh its benefits against its ecological and social costs?
The possibilities are wide-ranging. AI could help us:
Understand our bioregions: Integrate Earth observation, sensor data, and digital twins to assess ecosystem health and bioregional carrying capacity, and identify priorities for regeneration.
Map and strengthen local economies: Map financial, material, and energy flows, assess regional production and consumption, and identify opportunities to meet more local needs through local production.
Guide investment and collective decision-making: Use bioregional intelligence dashboards to inform participatory fund governance and the design and management of regeneration portfolios.
Strengthen local financial systems: Support the design and management of local currencies and other mechanisms that help circulate resources within a bioregion and finance ecological regeneration.
But what works today what remains experimental, and where does AI add enough value to justify its complexity and costs?
Join Planet Labs, Regen Network, GainForest, and COBALT for a two-hour BioFi Deep Dive into the practical uses and limits of AI for bioregional regeneration.
Our speakers:
Andrew Zolli — Planet Labs: Using satellite imagery and machine learning to assess ecological conditions and track changes across landscapes. .
Gregory Landua & David Fortson — Regen Network: Developing bioregional intelligence dashboards through the Compass initiative, integrating ecological data and monitoring tools to inform place-based planning, regeneration strategies, and investment decisions.
Sharfy Adamantine & Diego Rivera — GainForest: Combining AI, biodiversity monitoring, and community-led data collection to support ecological stewardship, with a focus on community ownership and data governance.
Glenn Paige — COBALT: Developing a Living Atlas of Seagrass Regeneration in the Gulf of Maine, exploring how AI, remote sensing, and field observations can help inform ecological restoration.
Questions we'll explore:
What can AI reveal about a bioregion’s ecological health, dynamics, and potential for regeneration?
How can ecological intelligence improve decisions about where to intervene, what to prioritize, and how to allocate capital?
Which applications are useful today, and what capabilities are still missing?
How can these tools uphold data sovereignty and Indigenous data governance, and put ownership and control in community hands?
This is an exploratory conversation, not a showcase of finished solutions. We’ll learn from people building and testing these tools, examine what they can deliver, and identify opportunities for collaboration. Together, we’ll begin sketching how these tools could connect to better serve bioregions and the communities stewarding them.
Format: Four 10-minute presentations, a short break, and an hour of facilitated discussion and audience Q&A.
About the BioFi Project
We are a think-and-do tank partnering with visionary communities to build place-based economies that regenerate the ecological and social systems they are embedded in. Our 850+ member Community of Practice meets monthly through the BioFi Deep Dive series.
Learn more at biofi.earth.