New ai platform makes environmental data analysis accessible to all conservation groups

Environmental scientists and conservation organizations now have a powerful new tool to make sense of the massive amounts of data collected from satellites and sensors worldwide. OlmoEarth, launched in November by the nonprofit Allen Institute of AI (Ai2), is an open-source platform that uses artificial intelligence to transform months of data analysis into just days of work.

The platform integrates multiple AI models trained on approximately 10 terabytes of environmental observation data, allowing users to monitor critical environmental trends like deforestation and mangrove ecosystem health. What makes OlmoEarth particularly revolutionary is its “no-code” approach – researchers and organizations can customize the foundational model with their own data without needing to build complex AI systems from scratch.

“It’s intended to democratize access to this kind of technology,” explains Patrick Beukema, OlmoEarth’s lead developer at Ai2. The platform addresses a major bottleneck in environmental research: while data-gathering technology has rapidly expanded in recent years, extracting meaningful insights from multiple data sources has remained time-consuming and technically challenging.

Ted Schmitt, senior director of conservation at Ai2, emphasizes the time-saving potential: “What we set out to do was to flip that on its head and really go from them spending months to literally days to get the same sort of information.” By making sophisticated AI analysis tools accessible to smaller organizations and researchers who previously couldn’t afford such technology, OlmoEarth could significantly accelerate conservation efforts and environmental monitoring worldwide.