Google unveils WeatherNext 2, its most advanced AI weather model
What's the story
Google has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) weather model, WeatherNext 2, which will be integrated into its popular products such as Search, Gemini, and Pixel phones. The tech giant's AI-powered forecasts have already proven to be highly accurate. Now, Google is looking to make these predictions a key feature of its products and services.
Model capabilities
WeatherNext 2: A leap in AI weather forecasting
WeatherNext 2 is a major upgrade over its predecessor, generating forecasts eight times faster and accurately predicting 99.9% of variables like temperature and wind. The model can produce hundreds of possible outcomes from a single input in under a minute using Google's TPU chips, something that would normally take hours with physics-based models on supercomputers.
Efficiency comparison
AI models vs traditional physics-based models
Traditional physics-based models are computationally intensive as they try to replicate the complex physics of the atmosphere for forecasts. In contrast, AI models look for patterns in historical weather data to predict future outcomes. Google has made its process more efficient by using a strategy called Functional Generative Network (FGN) in WeatherNext 2, which introduces noise or targeted randomness into the model each time it receives an input.
Forecasting precision
WeatherNext 2's advanced forecasting capabilities
The advancements in WeatherNext 2 allow it to make predictions up to 15 days in advance and generate hourly forecasts. This is particularly useful for enterprise customers as well as individual consumers. Akib Uddin, a product manager at Google Research, said businesses in energy, agriculture, transportation, and logistics are interested in these one-hour steps as they help them make more precise decisions related to their operations.
Model integration
WeatherNext 2's integration and access
Google has integrated WeatherNext technology and models into the core forecasting system that powers all of its weather features. This means users will soon see more accurate weather forecasts in Search, Gemini, Pixel Weather, and Google Maps. Businesses, scientists, and developers can access WeatherNext 2 through Google Cloud Vertex AI, BigQuery, and Earth Engine.