In this special episode for Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2025, Lauren Woodman, CEO of DataKind, discusses the potential of AI and data science to address some of the most pressing challenges of the past 50 years while unlocking new opportunities for socio-economic growth. At ADSW 2025, AI takes center stage, with talks exploring its transformative potential to fast-track the transition to sustainable growth.

“There is a healthy amount of skepticism and concern about some of the ethics and equity issues that AI raises, but I do think there is a real hope that technology and specifically AI can help us tackle some of these problems,” says Woodman.

Produced by Reuters Plus for Masdar

Introduction (0:17 – 2:46)

Emerging technologies (2:47 – 3:48)

The energy transition (3:49 – 5:02)

Challenges and potentialities (5:03 – 6:55)

The issue of energy demand (6:56 – 8:36)

Regulatory concerns (08:37 – 11:02)

Equity and corporate responsibility (11:03 – 15:55)

Modernizing energy structures (15:56 – 18:08)

Looking ahead (18:09 – 20:54)

Conclusion (20:55 – 21:25)

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