We have a power grid problem. Can AI fix it? | Pioneers of AI
About Priya
- MIT EECS & LIDS Assistant Professor; Silverman Family Career Development Prof.
- Co-founded & chairs Climate Change AI, a global nonprofit at AI-climate nexus
- Named to TIME100 AI (2025), Vox Future Perfect 50 (2023), TR35 (2021)
- Ph.D. in Computer Science & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University
- Won ACM SIGEnergy Doctoral Dissertation Award; Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Fellow
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There’s no shortage of headlines about AI’s environmental toll — but what if this technology could also help solve the climate crisis? In conversation with pioneers of AI host Rana el Kaliouby, Priya Donti, MIT Assistant Professor and co-founder of Climate Change AI, explains why she believes AI can play a critical role in the fight against climate change — though she’s quick to say it’s no silver bullet.
Priya is using machine learning to tackle some of our most urgent environmental challenges, from optimizing power grids to training the next generation of climate leaders. In this episode, she gets candid about what AI can and can’t do, what it’s like doing climate research under a hostile Trump administration, and why — even on the precipice of climate disaster — she hasn’t lost hope.
