Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Geography

In recent years, rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have significantly transformed geographical research methodologies. Large models such as DeepSeek and ChatGPT are catalyzing a shift in geography from the conventional "experience-empirical-simulation" approach to a multi-paradigm framework co-driven by "big data and intelligent learning," offering new perspectives and methods for understanding and interpreting complex geographical issues. In line with this tendency, the human geography community participated in comprehensive discussions regarding the interplay between AI and geography, the transformation of research paradigms, the agency of AI, and its inherent limitations. Several key insights have emerged: AI and geography are mutually empowering, and their deep integration reshapes both knowledge systems and social practices. When using AI, geographers should maintain their scholarly agency in theoretical framing, value orientation, and contextual interpretation, while emphasizing the situated meaning of human-environment systems and the practical utility of knowledge. This approach fosters a new disciplinary paradigm characterized by "human-machine-environment" synergy. Furthermore, although AI, as a non-human agent, is increasingly involved in the production of geographical knowledge (for example, the concept of a "digital sense of place"), understanding the complexity of human-environment relationships, interpreting socio-spatial dynamics, and appreciating and preserving local experiences must remain the prerogative of geographers, and cannot be supplanted by AI.