Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - The next frontier: Computational deep space and ocean life exploration (IMP104)

Summary

• The session focused on impact computing, modeling, simulation, and high-performance computing (HPC) to improve and understand life beyond human interaction with machines.
• AWS is exploring "life in the loop" computing, which considers non-human health and wellness, ecosystems, and extraterrestrial life.
• AWS has added a leadership principle emphasizing social and environmental responsibility, aiming to leave the world better than found.
• AWS's Global Impact Computing initiative is leveraging AWS's core assets to drive social and environmental impact.
• The Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI) is a significant data store that provides cloud grants to democratize access to sustainability-related data.
• AWS is innovating at the instance and service level, including sustainability in silicon and service design.
• AWS's high-performance computing is being used for drug discovery, conservation, and other fields.
• Agent-based modeling is being used to simulate complex behaviors and systems for better understanding and outcomes.
• Dr. Robert Wilson discussed the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), a ground-based telescope project that aims to answer whether we are alone in the universe.
• AWS is assisting the GMT with high-performance computing, computational fluid dynamics, and AI/ML technologies.
• Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative) aims to understand and communicate with sperm whales using advanced machine learning and robotics.
• AWS's Open Data Sponsorship Program and other AWS services are supporting Project CETI's data processing and analysis.

Insights

• AWS is deeply integrating social and environmental impact into its core business strategy, not just as a philanthropic effort but as a market-relevant investment.
• The GMT and Project CETI are examples of how AWS's computing power and data analytics capabilities are being applied to groundbreaking scientific research.
• The GMT will be a significant advancement in astronomy, with the potential to discover life on other planets and understand the universe better.
• Project CETI is an interdisciplinary effort that could revolutionize our understanding of non-human communication and has implications for interspecies and potentially interstellar communication.
• AWS's commitment to sustainability is evident in its efforts to innovate in silicon for reduced carbon footprint and in service design that considers environmental impact.
• The use of agent-based modeling and simulation technologies by AWS can help address global challenges by understanding complex systems and behaviors.
• AWS's collaboration with scientific organizations and the provision of cloud grants through ASDI show a commitment to democratizing data access and building capacity in data science for social and environmental impact.
• The session highlighted the importance of technology in expanding human understanding and empathy towards all forms of life, as well as the potential for technology to address existential questions and global challenges.