Regarded as one of the “game-changing” cutting-edge technologies by military powers,artificial intelligence(AI) has the potential to process data efficiently and provide battlefield situation information quickly for earth observation.Firstly,the developing state of AI and its optical application on earth observation are briefly analyzed.Then,the application of AI on space-based and air-based optical earth observation is studied from several aspects,such as information collecting and information processing.Finally,the trends of AI applications on the optical earth observation are summarized.The research results can be the reference for AI application on the optical earth observation in China.