Beijing is increasingly promoting AI as a tool for tackling one of climate change’s most urgent challenges, that is, helping vulnerable communities prepare for extreme weather before disaster strikes.
Chinese and Pakistani meteorologists jointly developed specialized forecasting tools while integrating Pakistan’s own radar and satellite observations into the platform.
In Pakistan, where glacial lake outburst floods, monsoon rainfall and severe storms pose recurring risks, says a report carried by China Economic Net on Friday.
For China, the next challenge is no longer whether AI can generate weather forecasts, but whether those forecasts are reliable enough to support operational decision-making during increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
“Artificial intelligence has become an important engine for improving forecasts and early warnings for hazardous weather,” Pan Jinjun, chief engineer of the CMA, told media.
He noted that AI models have already demonstrated strong capabilities in forecasting typhoons and other hazardous weather, but challenges remain, including the limited availability of extreme weather samples and the need to improve model reliability before AI systems can be fully trusted in operational services.
China is pairing technology with long-term capacity building. According to the CMA, nearly 1,000 meteorological professionals from more than 100 developing countries and regions have participated in China’s early warning training programs in recent years.
In June, the agency also launched the MAZU Scholarship to support meteorological professionals from Belt and Road partner countries working on early warning systems and the local application of MAZU.
The platform itself is also becoming more demand-driven. A newly launched “menu-based” service platform allows meteorological agencies, disaster management authorities and international organizations to select observation equipment, satellite products, AI forecasting models and other services according to their operational needs, with more than 100 international cooperation projects already available. The announcement that MAZU will expand to 30 countries over the next five years marks the next stage of that effort. As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather, countries are searching not only for better forecasts, but also for faster warnings and stronger resilience.
The global race in artificial intelligence may continue to be defined by increasingly powerful foundation models. But for communities facing floods, storms and droughts, another frontier is quietly emerging – using AI to ensure that the next warning arrives before the next disaster does.