Until then, Murturi plans to make a Svalbard Vault of sorts for corals in hopes that one day—when humans have gotten climate change under control and addressed AI’s energy problems—these at-risk organisms could once again thrive in the wild.

While AI could help prevent further environmental and ecological damage, ultimately it will still be up to the humans who fund, research, and use AI to oversee its use.

“Do I think AI is bad for the environment? It depends on what we’re using it for,” Murturi says. “If we’re using AI to train massive datasets to determine what we should be selling to people, that’s probably not a good use of energy.”