Changing the Course of the Future: The Growing Impact of AI on Coastal Science

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly influencing nearly every aspect of coastal research. Over the past decade, the number of coastal science-related journal articles applying machine learning (ML) methods has increased from only a few dozen to roughly 400 annually. In just a few years, generative AI has evolved from an interesting novelty into an essential tool that not only supports coastal research, but transforms how research is conducted. It is clear that AI is already having a substantial impact on the coastal sciences, a trend which will only grow in the coming years. This presentation will provide an overview of how AI has been applied to the coastal sciences over the past decade and explore potential future developments. A range of coastal AI examples from three broad categories - computer vision, prediction and forecasting, and data analysis - will be presented to highlight these advances. Challenges and limitations of the application of AI to the coastal sciences will be discussed, concluding with thoughts on how AI might continue to transform our field over the next decade.