| Dr. Alex Kirkpatrick: Hello, and welcome to this toolbox for understanding, communicating, and engaging with agricultural artificial intelligence, or ag AI. My name is Dr. Alex Kirkpatrick, and I’m a science communication researcher and educator at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources at Washington State University. This work is funded through a grant from Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and comprises 10 video lectures and associated activities aimed at developing AI and communications literacy among agriculture professionals. If you haven’t done so already, I’d like to ask you to please consider taking the brief anonymous survey linked to in the introduction section of this course. You can return to this video at any time you choose. Let’s explore. | A slide show. The speaker appears on screen. Text in a ribbon along the bottom of the screen reads, Alex Kirkpatrick, PhD. |
| [ Music ] | A combine harvester moves while a woman at the edge of the field controls it by tapping buttons on a tablet. In an industrial greenhouse, crops are watered by an automatic mechanical arm with sprinklers. In another field, a different woman holds up a sprig of a crop, viewing it through the lens of a tablet in her other hand. Text on screen reads “Welcome. Introduction to the toolbox, and what you can learn.” The logos appear for Western SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education), Washington State University, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Ag AID Institute (National Agricultural AI Institute for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support). |
| AI is more than simply a buzzword. It’s a principle, a science, and a technology that’s likely to underpin many of the most impactful technologies of the near and far future, including those in agriculture. | A motherboard and then lines of code in green on a black screen. Then, a smart speaker inside someone’s home, a person using a smartphone on a city street, a person sitting in the driving seat of a car. They don’t hold the steering wheel; it moves by itself. |
| Agriculture’s awareness of AI and its economic potential is burgeoning. The global market for agricultural artificial intelligence is currently valued at a modest $2 billion. To put that into some context, the global market for everyday paper bags is about $4.8 billion. But the truth is fuzzy, because the global market for autonomous vehicles is valued at around one and a half trillion dollars. And as we’ll see, if an autonomous vehicle works on a farm, it’s ag AI. | A man wears a VR headset outdoors and holds out his hands in front of him. Then, a drone flies over green fields. A slide with text on the left side of the screen; the heading reads, “The market for Ag AI is growing.” On the right side is an illustration of peas in a pod with text on top of it that reads, “ready to harvest, 94 percent.” |
| According to Polaris Market Research, this $2 billion agAI market will swell to about $12 billion by 2032, a six-fold increase. U.S. agricultural AI and Agtech startup investment is dominating the global market so far. U.S. government investment into formal ag AI science is also growing as global competition surrounding AI in all aspects of life heats up. | Text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “currently approximately 2 billion dollars.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “approximately 12 billion dollars by 2032.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “U.S. ag tech dominates the market for now.” |
| We’ll explore this investment and several other broad topics throughout this toolbox. We’ll explore some of the ways in which the science of AI is already impacting agriculture and sustainability, and assisting decision-making and prediction. We’ll look into the near future where some project AI might carry us in terms of navigating labor shortages, climate change, extreme weather, disease, and other challenges to sustainability. We’ll explore issues related to science communication and consider how agricultural audiences might interact with novel, often value-laden, risky science and technology like AI. While I cannot and won’t tell you how to communicate with your own unique audiences in your own unique context, I can offer you a psychological and sociological perspective on science and technology in society. With that grounding, you may be able to tailor and refine your own approach to communication and outreach, particularly when it comes to communicating about AI in agricultural contexts. I’ll introduce you to communication theories and models of technology adoption that can be useful tools when planning your own communication and outreach surrounding Agtech. | A new slide. The speaker appears on the left side of the slide. There is text on the right side of the slide: “We’ll explore several key topics.” Text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “AI in sustainable agriculture.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “Future impacts.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “risk and technology communication.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “theories of adoption.” |
| The aim of this course is to develop the following. Deeper awareness of AI in everyday life, its presence in agricultural technologies, and the impacts on users. Enhanced understanding of the risks, opportunities, and ethics of AI and its use in sustainable practices. Increased knowledge of behavioral models that predict technology adoption and behavior change. Honed communication skills and confidence in using them to foster productive dialogue among agricultural audiences. | A new slide with the heading outcomes of engagement. On the right side of the slide is an illustration of a lightbulb with foliage growing up the sides of it. Text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “awareness of AI.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “understanding of AI.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “knowledge of ag tech adoption.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “communication skills and efficacy.” More text appears below the heading. Bullet point, “confidence.” |
| This toolbox of videos is intended for autonomous learning. You can choose to watch some videos and not others in whatever order best suits you. That being said, you might also benefit from viewing them in the sequence they’re presented within the Extension Foundation learning management system. But either way, I hope you can glean some useful information about this increasingly important topic. Thanks for engaging. | The speaker appears on screen. |
| [ Music ] | A new slide. The logo for the USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The logo for Western SARE. Text: “This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2023-38640-39571 through the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under project number WPDP-24-013. U.S. Department of Agriculture.” The logo for Ag AID Institute. Text: “This material is based upon work supported by the AI Research Institutes program supported by NSF and USDA-NIFA under the AI Institute, Agricultural AI for Transforming Workforce and Decision Support.” In brackets: “Ag AID. Award number 2021-67021-35344.” |