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Columnist and Technology

Storm clouds threaten a promised AI revolution in weather prediction

New AI models from tech giants are set to revolutionise weather prediction. But as our climate becomes more extreme, we need to ensure broad public access to their forecasts, says Annalee Newitz

By Annalee Newitz

28 May 2025

2DF6M9A Young boy struggling with large yellow umbrella on beach in stormy weather. Winter beach scene.

“People just moan about the weather forecast and how bad it is…”

Erik AJV/Alamy

“It’s an absolutely unbelievable scientific achievement,” says Andrew Charlton-Perez, talking to me by video from his office at the University of Reading, UK. His colleague, Simon Driscoll at the University of Cambridge, nods enthusiastically. “There are so many different applications and so many different uses for it.”

No, they aren’t referring to quantum computing or nuclear fusion. They are talking about weather prediction. “People just moan about the weather forecast and how bad it is,” says Charlton-Perez. As a meteorology professor, he hears this a lot. But that is because most people…

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