Ecological restoration and artificial intelligence: whose values inform a project?

Significant attention has been given to how artificial intelligence (AI) can be utilized by society and in scientific fields in recent years. This article explores how AI tools utilized in various fields have been and can be applied to ecological restoration projects, their affiliated benefits and drawbacks, and what those tools depend on. While restoration efforts can benefit from such tools, individual and institutional values primarily drive project goals. As such, AI tools are constrained in their usefulness in restoration because they can only factor in value‐oriented variables to a certain degree. In fact, certain restoration practices may be so value‐laden that the use of AI may bias a restoration project in a manner which could lead to undesired outcomes. This article posits that AI can be integrated into ecological restoration projects, but that practitioners (and academics) should recognize the complexity of what AI tools are before they use them.