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How AI can save Earth’s Biodiversity
Using Deep Learning for detection, classification, and action
Our planet is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction, the worst one since dinosaurs roamed the earth, 65 million years ago. Every 14 minutes, an elephant is killed in Africa, while a Rhino is slaughtered every 11 hours. Over 14,000 species in the US are listed as endangered, many of which have been around for millions of years. The responsibility for this crisis lies with us, humans. It is because of countless direct and indirect human actions, such as poaching, overpopulation, habitat destruction and climate change, that our planet’s rich biodiversity is taking such a huge hit.
“We know that species are becoming extinct at a rapid pace — at least 1,000 times more quickly than would be expected in the absence of human activities.” — Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft.
Technology: friend or foe?
Environmentalists are facing insurmountable odds as poachers resort to the latest technology in night-vision goggles, military grade weaponry, and sophisticated transportation. Thankfully, it’s the state-of-art technology that’s also giving a boost to conservation efforts around the world.
The revolutionary advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) have unlocked the ability to rapidly process a variety of signals, identify risks from them accurately, and provide real-time alerts to the conservationists. In this fight against human greed, AI models have turned into an unlikely ally, helping save our biodiversity, paradoxically from our own hands.
The immense power of Deep Learning models
Deep Learning models, a type of AI system, are particularly effective at pattern recognition and identification. For example, when these models are given thousands of pictures of whale sharks, they can learn to spot a unique whale shark from a future sighting, with remarkable accuracy. A feat that humans would struggle to match.
In addition, these models are particularly effective at doing this with…
