From Anthropocene to Artificial Intelligence? Challenges of Machine Learning for Science, Life, and Society

In a complex dynamical system of natural and civilizational influence, which is sensible to local perturbations and may undergo chaotic destabilization due to nonlinear interactions, artificial intelligence (AI), data mining, and modern sensor technology may provide the urgently needed early monitoring systems. However, these tools, when powerful and self-organizing, may themselves pose ecological and ethical problems. Therefore, we need more global governance of an AI-supported socioeconomic and Earth system to keep the balance of the whole system.