This paper presents a novel approach to track the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and climate inventions on a large scale using patent data. Analysis of over 6 million US patents from 1976 to 2019 reveals that AI is most frequently mentioned in climate patents related to transportation, energy, and industrial production. Highly cited patents show a higher AI presence in adaptation and transport. AI-related climate patents are associated with significantly more subsequent inventions (30-100% increase) but also exhibit a greater share of citations from outside the climate field, highlighting the importance of considering both increased invention activity and knowledge spillover across different technological domains.

Vilhelm Verendel