Todd Myers: AI is powering action to protect the environment
By Todd Myers
This October, Spokane is host to the AI Innovation Summit, the “first statewide conference exploring the transformative role of artificial intelligence in Washington State’s K-12 education system.” It’s a reminder that artificial intelligence is going to impact your life whether you live in Spokane or the farthest reaches of Washington – and whether you touch a computer or not.
Since large language models burst into public consciousness less than two years ago, there have been stories promising that AI can solve everything from climate change to traffic jams. Understandably, people have become somewhat skeptical.
However, when it comes to protecting the environment, connecting with nature, and even making sure our pets are happy, AI is already delivering results. In these areas, AI is not the future but the here-and-now.
As concern about the health of the environment grows along with frustration at government’s failure to solve those problems, it is easy to become demoralized. But there is good news. Innovators are finding ways to use the power of artificial intelligence to create solutions to environmental challenges – big and small.
How can we protect the habitat of the world’s most endangered species living in jungles? AI can help.
What birds do you hear while hiking in the forest? AI can tell you.
Is your kitten in pain? AI has the answer.
One of the most remarkable uses of AI to protect the environment is by Rainforest Connection, a group originally created to stop illegal logging. They connected cellphones to solar panels, placing them in the jungle to detect chainsaws, cars or gunshots. The data is analyzed by AI and if it detects sounds associated with logging, the device notifies local authorities who can stop the activity.
Rainforest Connection found remarkable new ways to use AI sound analysis in their effort to protect wildlife. Finding endangered animals can be difficult, but all animals make noise and monitoring sounds in forests and jungles helps find them.
In 2021, Chrissy Durkin, who worked with Rainforest Connection as director of international expansion, told me they realized the sound data could make conservation efforts available to groups that couldn’t afford wildlife biologists. AI could provide data that would not otherwise be available. “It takes the scientist out of the equation,” she said. The monitoring stations with AI are “weather stations for biodiversity,” giving people the ability to understand what animals are in an area and if conservation efforts are yielding results.
Currently Rainforest Connection’s systems are monitoring nearly 3,000 square miles of important habitat.
Since I spoke with her, Durkin helped found another AI-powered conservation group called WildMon whose mission is to “evaluate the performance of conservation initiatives and enable proactive measures towards effective species and ecosystem conservation.”
The 2023 State of Conservation Technology report lists AI as the top technology to advance conservation in the future.
AI is also being used to help people connect with the environment around us.
An app developed by the Cornell Ornithology Lab called Merlin Bird ID uses AI to identify nearby birds by the songs they sing. Tell the app to listen and when it hears a bird song, it uses location and AI pattern matching to identify the bird serenading you. It is remarkably accurate and is improving all the time.
Finally, cat owners can check the health of their furry companions thanks to AI. When cats are in pain, they show it in their face. By looking at several facial clues, including ear and whisker position, and muzzle tension, a system called Tably uses photos to tell veterinarians and pet owners how a cat is feeling. (Interestingly, facial recognition doesn’t work with dogs because they are more likely to mirror the emotions of their owner rather than show pain.)
It isn’t quite Dr. Doolittle – although some say AI will make speaking and understanding animals possible too – but it is an extremely useful tool that can make the lives of the animals we love a little better.
The power of AI has led to almost daily calls for increased regulation, sometimes from politicians whose understanding of how AI works is limited at best. But before politicians and bureaucracies regulate AI based on theoretical fears, they should look closely at the ways AI is already protecting wildlife and ecosystems and bringing us closer to nature.
Todd Myers is vice president for research at the Washington Policy Center. He’s based in Cle Elum, Washington. Members of the Cowles family, owners of The Spokesman-Review, have previously hosted fundraisers for the Washington Policy Center and sit on the organization’s board.