GeoGPT: An Update

John Ludden and colleagues apprise the latest developments with the geoscience-specific AI generative language model, GeoGPT

7 March 2025

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

In 2024, Geoscientist published several articles discussing artificial intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) in the geosciences, and specifically GeoGPT – an open source, non-profit LLM that, while still in prototype form, can extract key information from documents, develop computer code, and draw charts and graphs from text (see Geoscientist 34(3) & 34(4), 2024).

GeoGPT was part of the Deep-time Digital Earth project (DDE; www.ddeworld.org), which is sponsored by IUGS. So, when in early 2024 DDE was accused of using licensed data in a publication, GeoScienceWorld contacted the IUGS to ask for an explanation. It transpired that Jiaotong University in China had launched its own geoscience-focused LLM, GeoGalactica, and released it on GitHub. GeoGalactica was labelled as a collaboration with and supported by DDE—without going through any formal DDE review or endorsement. DDE have since clarified that they were not involved in this copyright infringement. The GeoGalactica team released a statement acknowledging that they had incorrectly labelled DDE as a partner and sponsor. However, it was quite evident that IUGS was not fully aware of exactly what DDE was trying to achieve in the LLM space. So, in February 2024, IUGS instigated a review of DDE activities – an action supported by the Director of DDE.

The IUGS executive used its standard procedure for ad-hoc committee reviews, which involves members of the executive and external experts. The review, which is published on the IGUS website (www.iugs.org; IUGS 2024a), focused on the structure of DDE, its financial model, and how DDE fits with the broader objectives of IUGS. Such reviews do not evaluate the science quality in detail. DDE is now restructuring its governance, and its main financial sponsors aim to ensure transparency.

Given that GeoGPT was in development, the reviewers agreed that GeoGPT would not be part of the review. Instead, GeoGPT was discussed at an IUGS-sponsored meeting in London in July 2024 (IUGS 2024b), as well as during open sessions held at the International Geological Congress, Geological Society of America and American Geophysical Union meetings last year. GeoGPT has made considerable progress in responding to the various questions posed. GeoGPT now includes Retrieval-Augmented Generation so that the sources of answers can be traced to single articles, the servers for international users are based in Singapore, and users can choose between an American (LlaMa), Chinese (Qwen) or French (Mistral) foundation model.

GeoGPT management and IUGS agreed to create separate governance structures for GeoGPT and DDE. The former has now been established through the Zhejiang Lab in Hangzhou, China under the leadership of Dr Jian Wang, https://geogpt.zero2x.org/. The GeoGPT Governance Committee is still being formed but is co-chaired by John Ludden and Richard Chuchla, and the mandate is available at https://geogpt.zero2x.org/committee.

In March 2025, the committee will chair a meeting to discuss the LLM landscape in the geosciences. The meeting will include an update on the status of GeoGPT, plans for its general launch, and efforts to license material from several publishers. A full summary will be available online after the meeting and FAQ will be circulated to attendees prior to the meeting.

Given that GeoGPT no longer has a direct governance link to DDE or IUGS, the IUGS Commission on Geoethics Task Group on AI (among others) chose not to attend the meeting, which is unfortunate given that DDE aims to sign a memorandum of understanding with Zhejiang Lab, the developer of GeoGPT, that encourages joint-working, where appropriate, but operational independence.

Once GeoGPT is made fully publicly available in the second half of 2025, the quality of its outputs will be benchmarked, and an ongoing summary will be presented by the Governance Committee. Our aim is for GeoGPT to become a world-leading geoscience-based platform that sets the standard in terms of openness and quality. We hope the geoscience community will embrace our ambitions, while retaining the healthy scepticism appropriate for any AI initiative.

GeoGPT Meeting | Large Language Models in Geoscience

12 March 2025
Burlington House, London (limited space in-person) and virtual attendance online

11:00 to 17:00 GMT

We are pleased to invite you to a meeting that builds on the progress made since July 2024. GeoGPT has been actively engaging with the geoscience community, collaborating with experts globally and hosting open sessions at major conferences.

Key Agenda Items:

1. Introduction by Co-Chairs: Setting objectives and discussing the meeting agenda

2. The Role of GeoGPT in the LLM Landscape: Understanding our place in geosciences

3. Updates on GeoGPT:

Governance Committee Formation
Licensing Processes and Initiatives
Open-Source Launch Plans
IUGS-DDE Review Status

4. Open Discussion on Geoscience LLM

5. Conclusions

Pre-meeting FAQs and draft replies will be shared with registered attendees. Following the meeting, the FAQs will be available at: https://geogpt.zero2x.org/FAQ

To RSVP for the event (in person or virtually), please email:

johnludden@georg.cluster.is

yuting@zhejianglab.org

Authors

John Ludden Co-chair GeoGPT Governance Committee, currently Chair, Krafla Magma Testbed, Iceland, Past-President of the IUGS, Chair of the ad-hoc review committee of IUGS for the DDE project.

Richard Chuchla, Co-chair GeoGPT Governance Committee, currently President of Global Energy and Earth Resources Consulting, LLC

Jian Wang, Founder of Alibaba Cloud, President of the Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China

Yitian Xiao, former ExxonMobil Senior Geoscience Advisor, former SINOPEC Petroleum Exploration & Production Research Institute, and Senior Consultant of the GeoGPT Project at the Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China

Jieping Ye, GeoGPT Technical Lead, Vice President of Alibaba Cloud, and a visiting scholar at the Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou, China

Mike Stephenson, Past and Founding President of the Deep-time Digital Earth program, Director, Stephenson Geoscience Consulting Ltd, UK

Jim Ogg, IUGS Deep-time Digital Earth Research Center of Excellence, Suzhou, Chengdu University of Technology, China, and Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Purdue University, USA

Harvey Thorleifson, President, Deep-time Digital Earth, Chair DDE Governance Council, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Minnesota, USA

Further reading