Google releases groundbreaking AI tool for rapid animal identification: 'Protecting nature ... is critical'
A new artificial intelligence model could make it significantly easier for researchers to track and monitor wildlife across the globe.
Google recently released SpeciesNet, an open-source AI that can be used to identify animal species. The AI analyzes photos from camera traps — digital cameras that are triggered when infrared sensors capture motion — and can quickly identify species from the photos.
This is particularly valuable for researchers who are studying the biodiversity of a specific area. Instead of spending hours scanning footage and attempting to identify species, researchers can use this AI to almost instantly get the necessary ID.
"Protecting nature and biodiversity is critical to tackling climate change," Mike Werner, Google's head of sustainability programs and innovation, wrote in a blog post. "The SpeciesNet AI model release will enable tool developers, academics and biodiversity-related startups to scale monitoring of biodiversity in natural areas."
SpeciesNet has been available since 2019 to thousands of wildlife biologists but is now available to everyone through this open-source release.
As TechCrunch reported, SpeciesNet has been used as a part of Google's Wildlife Insights, a platform where researchers collaborate to share and analyze wildlife images. The AI was trained using more than 65 million images.
The World Wildlife Fund is among the organizations that have used Wildlife Insights and SpeciesNet.
"It detects 99.4% of images containing animals and, when the model predicts an animal is present, it is correct 98.7% of the time," the organization wrote. "Additionally, the model is accurate 94.5% of the time when it makes a species-level prediction."
This development is the latest in a complicated string of news stories involving AI and the environment.
At its best, AI can be used for projects such as SpeciesNet to make conservationists' jobs and research easier. It has been used to predict weather and climate events and in predictive modeling of wildlife and habitat sustainability.
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But there is a caveat to these breakthroughs. Some fear, for instance, that AI could make it easier for poachers to hunt endangered species. And researchers are just beginning to understand the amount of energy it takes to create and operate AI-based systems. Some studies have estimated that, by 2027, AI will use the same amount of energy needed to power a small nation.
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