At least 85% of Earth's population is ALREADY affected by human-induced climate change
Artificial intelligence has made a disheartening discovery 85 percent of the world's population has already been affected by human-induced . The findings were made by German scientists, led by Max Callaghan from the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, who, according to the study, trained the system to 'identify, evaluate and summarize scientific publications on climate change and its consequences.' Researchers used machine learning to sift through data published from 1951 through 2018 and found more than 100,000 studies with evidence that shows 80 percent of Earth's inhabited land has been impacted by climate change. The results also uncovered an 'attribution gap' around the globe, where evidence is is distributed unequally across countries - 'evidence for potentially attributable impacts are twice as prevalent in high-income than in low-income countries,' according to the study. The AI was taught to identify climate-relevant studies, generating a list of papers on topics from disrupted butterfly migration to heat-related human deaths to forestry cover changes. Using location data from the studies, they divided the globe into a grid and mapped where documented climate impacts matched climate-driven trends in temperature and precipitation. The study was recently published in the scientific journal . 'In this study, we develop an approach using machine learning developing an algorithm that can recognize not just whether a study is about climate impacts, but the locations mentioned, the climate impact driver whether the impacts were caused by temperature or precipitation changes and the type of impacts described,' Callaghan shared in a post on . The team used location data for the study and divided world maps to show where the evidence in studies matched that in climate models. For each grid cell, the team asked the AI if it 'is getting hotter or colder or wetter or dryer outside of the bounds of natural variability?' said Callaghan. Heating was then cross checked with climate models to see if the predictions match. As a result, the researchers found 80 percent of the world - home to 85 percent of the global population - was noted in studies to have been impacted by climate change. The predictions for temperature and precipitation changes due to global warming also matched what was seen in previously made climate models Callaghan also found that research has disproportionately documented climate impacts in richer nations and rarely was work published about highly-vulnerable areas. For example, he said that trends in temperatures and rainfall in Africa could be linked to climate change. 'But we won't have many studies documenting the impacts of those trends, he told AFP, calling it a 'blind spot in our knowledge of climate impacts.' Climate-related research has grown exponentially in recent decades.