Crisis management & building a sustainable future with AI

Lessons for companies around the world.

Nonprofit Organizations Develop AI Models and Agents to Tackle Global Challenges — and Derive Lessons for Businesses Worldwide


There are many factors that play a role in crisis response — whether it’s emergency blankets, dedicated volunteers, distant donations, or scientific breakthroughs. Now, generative AI is ready to take its place in the emergency toolkit. As the world faces a growing number of challenges — wars, housing shortages, misinformation, climate change, and the increasing natural disasters, migration flows, and economic hurdles that many of these issues bring — humanity is once again turning to technology to find solutions.

The enthusiasm for using generative AI to address such crises is immense, and it’s remarkable how quickly this technology has shown a tangible impact not only in business but across all aspects of life — from the everyday to the extraordinary. A testament to this is the recent awarding of not one but two Nobel Prizes for work in AI. As Demis Hassabis, head of Google DeepMind and laureate, said: “I’ve dedicated my career to advancing AI because of its unparalleled potential to improve the lives of billions of people.”

Climate Change: A Global Problem with AI Solutions

Few issues affect as many people as climate change, which is sweeping across the globe. It is often cited as one of the areas where AI holds great promise for devising novel or unexpected solutions to what has so far seemed an unsolvable problem. At the same time, AI is proving its potential to address local challenges, such as disasters and migration patterns exacerbated by climatic events or the all-too-common displacement of people due to economic, political, or social factors.

These challenges may seem far removed from the business world, yet they exert regular pressure on it. As a host of nonprofit organizations and NGOs have begun leveraging AI to tackle global and local issues, their insights offer valuable lessons on how this emerging technology can also benefit companies and workforces.

New Frontiers in Sustainable Materials

To achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and limit harmful temperature increases, global cooperation and innovative solutions are needed — though these often come with high economic costs. Here, generative AI could play a crucial role by providing quick access to critical information, optimizing resource use, and streamlining processes.

AI is also driving the transition to renewable energy sources like solar and wind. It facilitates the seamless integration of these sources into power grids, balancing supply and demand for a cleaner and more efficient energy system. In short, AI can help regulate resources and reduce waste — something the planet urgently needs.

One example is Materiom, a UK-based NGO building a database of bio-based materials to replace plastic and other non-renewable products. Materiom estimates that generative AI can accelerate the discovery of sustainable materials ninefold, enabling entrepreneurs to develop eco-friendly products faster and at a lower cost. Through the Google.org Accelerator program, Materiom developed an AI tool that allows anyone to create compostable, bio-based materials — benefiting industries like packaging, textiles, and construction.

Urgent Information for Urgent Situations

The United Nations estimates that as of June this year, over 120 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes — roughly 1 in every 69 people. To support these individuals, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) nearly a decade ago launched Refugee.info, a service providing critical information to displaced persons in Greece during the Syrian war. In 2018, the platform evolved into Signpost, a digital platform assisting millions worldwide.

With support from the Google.org Accelerator, the IRC developed an AI-powered system that provides rapid and accurate information during crises. These AI chatbots operate in text and voice formats in multiple native languages, delivering life-saving information during natural disasters, armed conflicts, and other emergencies.

Insights in Seconds Instead of Weeks

In the fast-paced world of scientific and academic research, time and resources can make all the difference. High research costs — including personnel, infrastructure, materials, and software — can significantly slow progress. Generative AI offers a solution by automating the analysis of massive and complex datasets, uncovering patterns and correlations at remarkable speed.

The World Bank’s Development Research Program, DIME, part of the Google.org Accelerator, has developed an AI tool to extract critical insights from new and historical research literature. The goal is to provide policymakers and development researchers with efficient guidance to improve the outcomes of aid and loans.

By leveraging generative AI, we can tackle complex challenges and drive sustainable change both globally and locally — an approach that benefits not only nonprofit organizations but also businesses.

This blog post originally appeared on https://cloud.google.com/transform/gen-ai-crisis-response-sustainability-google-org-nonprofit-ai-incubator/?e=48754805

Blog

Expanding Opportunities with Generative AI

Discover how nonprofits use generative AI to boost career opportunities, enhance education, and bridge employment gaps for underserved communities.

Blog

Responsible AI: A Guide to Ethical AI Development

Responsible AI is a key requirement in the development and use of AI technologies. You can find everything you need to know here!

Blog 7/22/24

So You are Building an AI Assistant?

So you are building an AI assistant for the business? This is a popular topic in the companies these days. Everybody seems to be doing that. While running AI Research in the last months, I have discovered that many companies in the USA and Europe are building some sort of AI assistant these days, mostly around enterprise workflow automation and knowledge bases. There are common patterns in how such projects work most of the time. So let me tell you a story...

Headerbild zur AI Factory for Insurance
Service 7/5/21

AI Factory for Insurance

The AI Factory for Insurance is an innovative organisational model combined with a flexible, modular IT architecture. It is an innovation and implementation factory to systematically develop, train and deploy AI models in digital business processes.

Kompetenz 7/29/21

AI - A technology is revolutionizing our everyday lives

For ARS, AI is an increasingly natural and organic part of software engineering. This is particularly true in cases where it is an integral part of applications and functions.

Insights

These are the proud winners of the Enterprise RAG Challenge

Discover the winners of the Enterprise RAG Challenge! Explore top RAG solutions, watch the official announcement, and see how AI-driven retrieval and LLMs shaped the best-performing models.

Kompetenz 8/5/21

Shaping the future with technology

ARS Computer and Consulting is one of the leading companies in the field of software engineering. Our mission: The Art of Software Engineering. This includes high-quality consulting and successful projects for the agile development of high-quality software.

Blog 7/15/21

Building a micro frontend consuming a design system | Part 3

In this blopgpost, you will learn how to create a react application that consumes a design system.

Blog 7/16/21

Building A Shell Application for Micro Frontends | Part 4

We already have a design system, several micro frontends consuming this design system, and now we need a shell application that imports micro frontends and displays them.

Referenz 8/8/22

Interdisciplinary collaboration at C&A with Atlassian

To homogenize the toolchain TIMETOACT replaced two independent ticketing systems for C&A Services GmbH &Co. with the Atlassian product range. With this step into the enterprise cloud, the fashion retailer is putting is putting an exclamation mark on cross-departmental and cross-location digital collaboration.

Future-Proof Your Business with SAP Cloud ERP

Discover how SAP Cloud ERP transforms business operations with enhanced agility, reduced costs, and real-time decision-making. Download our free guide and future-proof your organization.

Teaserbild zu Software Asset Management (SAM)
Service

Reduce your costs with Software Asset Management (SAM)!

Companies find it increasingly difficult to keep track of the software they use. We support you in this!

Workshop 8/17/23

Gen AI Discovery Workshop

Learn how to push your creative boundaries with Cloudpilots' innovative solution in the Discovery Workshop for Generative AI.

Blog 4/28/23

Creating a Social Media Posts Generator Website with ChatGPT

Using the GPT-3-turbo and DALL-E models in Node.js to create a social post generator for a fictional product can be really helpful. The author uses ChatGPT to create an API that utilizes the openai library for Node.js., a Vue component with an input for the title and message of the post. This article provides step-by-step instructions for setting up the project and includes links to the code repository.

Branche

Artificial Intelligence in Treasury Management

Optimize treasury processes with AI: automated reports, forecasts, and risk management.

Referenz

Revamped Idea Management with numerous Enhancements

In 2011, the management decided to reorganize the idea management system and give it a complete overhaul. The existing software solution was no longer up to date and had to be replaced.

Blog 11/24/23

Part 3: How to Analyze a Database File with GPT-3.5

In this blog, we'll explore the proper usage of data analysis with ChatGPT and how you can analyze and visualize data from a SQLite database to help you make the most of your data.

Blog

Using AI correctly in 2025

The four biggest stumbling blocks for generative AI in 2025 - and how to avoid them.

Referenz

Customer Relationship Management with Jira and Confluence

The TOPMOTIVE Group consists of Europe's leading companies for catalog and information systems and services in the automotive independent aftermarket. Creating, maintaining and displaying sales-relevant information in one system was the vision that became reality with the help of Atlassian tools.

Referenz

Customer Relationship Management with Jira and Confluence

TOPMOTIVE Group, a leading provider of catalog and information systems in the automotive aftermarket, used Atlassian tools to bundle and provide sales-related information in one system.

Bleiben Sie mit dem TIMETOACT GROUP Newsletter auf dem Laufenden!