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AI-Equipped Cameras Will Help Spot Wildlife Poachers Before They Can Kill (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the technology-to-the-rescue dept.

Conservation nonprofit Resolve is using AI-equipped cameras to act as remote park rangers and help spot wildlife poachers before they kill endangered animals. "Today, Resolve announced a new custom-made device called TrailGuard AI, which uses Intel-made vision chips to identify animals and humans that wander into view," reports The Verge. "The cameras will be placed on access trails used by poachers, automatically alerting park rangers who can check up on any suspicious activity." From the report: TrailGuard AI builds on past work by Resolve to create remote cameras to aid conservation. However, early devices were bulky, had limited battery life, and were unsophisticated, sending images to rangers every time their motion sensors were tripped. This resulted in lots of false positives, as the cameras would be triggered by non-events, such as the wind shaking tree branches. The new device, by comparison, is no thicker than a human index finger, has a battery life of a year and a half, and can reliably identify humans, animals, and vehicles. The chip used by Resolve is Intel's Movidius Myriad 2 VPU (or vision processing unit), which is the same technology that powered Google's automatic Clips camera.

25 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. Farming is likely the solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Poaching will not stop.

    That should be clear by now, with the immiment extinction of a range of large animals.

    A solution may be farming.

    Farming addresses the supply problem, which removes the economic incentive to poach.

    It also massively increases population numbers.

    1. Re:Farming is likely the solution by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      At the same time, make the live population a "profit center" (which will cause it to increase) as opposed to a "cost center" (which everyone tries to ditch).

      Even that can be hard to do. Those African big game hunts you see all over the news every now and then that environmentalists get all hung up about? People pay tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, for the permits for these hunts. They can only hunt specifically identified individuals who are usually old and no longer in the breeding population. The fees from the permit are put back towards conservation, and the hunts help stimulate the local economy through guides, processing the kills, and just generally supporting the hunt/travel. But all people see is a dead animal and freak out.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:Farming is likely the solution by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Mostly because the animals are endangered, but the locals aren't - they are breeding like crazy.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    3. Re:Farming is likely the solution by PPH · · Score: 1

      You eliminate demand by poisoning confiscated rhino horn and then introducing it back into the black market. You kill the customers.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    4. Re:Farming is likely the solution by SethJohnson · · Score: 1

      Those African big game hunts you see all over the news every now and then that environmentalists get all hung up about?

      I am afraid you're misrepresenting past criticism of certain wealthy westerners who have travelled overseas to kill animals. The outrage hasn't been so much a rejection of killing animals for sport. Many of the public-outrage incidents you are probably referring to involved unethical hunting behavior that infuriates both hunters and non-hunters.

      Idaho Game Official Gloats After Killing Family of Primates

      Dentist Shoots GPS-collared Lion Lured from Preserve

      This isn't "hunting" so much as it is paying money for the opportunity to kill exotic creatures. The participants lack any skills or patience for "fair chase." They're not much different than a crystal meth addict hiding next to a barrel of rotten apples in a California forest waiting to shotgun (slug) a black bear so he can cut out its heart and sell it to a Chinese witch doctor.

      I admire the hunters who go after invasive species such as the Burmese python in the Everglades. It takes hundreds of hours and tons of legwork and concentration to find these monsters. Money doesn't buy an easy trophy there.

      Here's an excellent article about the erosion of "fair chase" hunting in America. Before pointing a finger at hunting critics, consider that there really are a lot of jackasses running around calling themselves hunters. The critics are largely pointing their fingers at these jackasses.

      --
      $5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
    5. Re:Farming is likely the solution by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Those African big game hunts you see all over the news every now and then that environmentalists get all hung up about?

      I am afraid you're misrepresenting past criticism of certain wealthy westerners who have travelled overseas to kill animals. The outrage hasn't been so much a rejection of killing animals for sport. Many of the public-outrage incidents you are probably referring to involved unethical hunting behavior that infuriates both hunters and non-hunters. Idaho Game Official Gloats After Killing Family of Primates Dentist Shoots GPS-collared Lion Lured from Preserve This isn't "hunting" so much as it is paying money for the opportunity to kill exotic creatures. The participants lack any skills or patience for "fair chase." They're not much different than a crystal meth addict hiding next to a barrel of rotten apples in a California forest waiting to shotgun (slug) a black bear so he can cut out its heart and sell it to a Chinese witch doctor. I admire the hunters who go after invasive species such as the Burmese python in the Everglades. It takes hundreds of hours and tons of legwork and concentration to find these monsters. Money doesn't buy an easy trophy there. Here's an excellent article about the erosion of "fair chase" hunting in America. Before pointing a finger at hunting critics, consider that there really are a lot of jackasses running around calling themselves hunters. The critics are largely pointing their fingers at these jackasses.

      I'm not talking about the Cecil killer or the monkey idiot (one maybe, but a whole group was just excessive). But there was the dentist I believe that killed the rhino that was past breeding age and was a loner/was sick, and everyone freaked out. As for skill/fair chase, well, isn't really that hard to sit in a deer stand for a few hours and waiting to shoot a deer that can't even see you, is it? That's honestly one of the reasons why I stopped deer hunting. It didn't feel very sporting (wasn't crazy about the taste of venison either and not into trophy hunting). And you forgot about the gall bladders that bear poachers tend to go for, too.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    6. Re:Farming is likely the solution by SethJohnson · · Score: 1

      I know of all those cases and I think the perception of the black rhino hunt auction story was colored by it being an extremely endangered species and many people would like to think that preservation would not involve sport hunting of the breed. It's a very nuanced proposition, and I'm not convinced that the proponents of hunt-for-preservation aren't just deluding themselves in order to rationalize their activity.

      I'm with you on your rejection of the deer stand / feeder dynamic. That's not "hunting." It should be called "ambushing."

      Yes, I should have said gall bladder when I mentioned the bear poachers cutting out the hearts for Chinese witch doctors.

      --
      $5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
  2. New Term for Actual Artificial Intelligence by Kunedog · · Score: 2

    So is there another term that researchers working in the field of AI use to avoid confusion, now that "AI" has become a marketing buzzword for any system using a sensor and/or algorithm (and often not even that) to make decisions?

    1. Re:New Term for Actual Artificial Intelligence by dromgodis · · Score: 1

      Why not just "intelligence"?

      I never really understood the need for a distinction between biologically evolved intelligence and ones that come into existence by other means.

      And I think it would be harder to make a marketing buzzword out of just "intelligence". :)

    2. Re:New Term for Actual Artificial Intelligence by kalebskeithley · · Score: 1

      Synthetic Cognition ?

      Remember, you heard it here first.

    3. Re:New Term for Actual Artificial Intelligence by rmdingler · · Score: 1

      It's also worthy of consideration why we are so prone to sharply demarcate anthropogenic advancements from otherwise natural or biological development.

      Mankind is the result of a natural, biological process... it follows that advancements made by the planet's big-brained hairless monkeys are of nature.

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    4. Re:New Term for Actual Artificial Intelligence by dromgodis · · Score: 1

      Almost, but not quite. There are three different fields and meanings of AI.

      One of them is as you say, something that just displays a behaviour that is adapted to the situation. It does not have anything to do with real intelligence, just generally the best rational response to the environment and situation.

      The other field is about creating proper intelligence, whatever that is. Some people here seem to think that this should be the only use of the term AI, and if it is used for something else, they feel compelled to rant about how that use is not "proper" AI (which usually was never claimed) and, for good measure, point out that they believe that AGI will never happen.

      And the third field is marketing. There all bets are off when it comes to definition.

    5. Re:New Term for Actual Artificial Intelligence by dromgodis · · Score: 1

      Exactly!

      Max Tegmark is musing around exactly that line of reasoning and its consequences in his book "Life 3.0". Not a very good book in itself, but probably a should-read if you are interested in this topic.

    6. Re:New Term for Actual Artificial Intelligence by Graydyn+Young · · Score: 1

      Anybody in the field would just use a more specific term. In this case, "Computer Vision". I think the only field that would probably like the term AI back would be people making game-playing agents.

  3. Re:Half measures by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Well, at least these surveillance cams are easy to avoid.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Re:Me and my llama by johnsie · · Score: 1

    I whipped you llama's ass

  5. Re: Half measures by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Property damage. What else would it be?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  6. Re:Gun equipped Cameras can Kill poachers ... by dromgodis · · Score: 1

    Indeed, but what if the camera kills a rhino?

    Btw, would that device be named a "Smart Camera" in the same way that an internet-connected microphone with an attached speaker becomes a "Smart Speaker"?

  7. Re: Gun equipped Cameras can Kill poachers ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Had to scroll all the way down to find the "it should kill on sight" comment.

  8. EdRanger209! by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    "You have 30 seconds to comply!"

  9. A most dangerous game by alvinrod · · Score: 2

    Why not just sell hunting rights on the poachers. I'm sure there are some people who'd pay tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars to go human hunting. If you're already going to kill them, you may as well at least try to make a buck while doing so.

  10. Re:Gun equipped Cameras can Kill poachers ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    But what if it's just a local villager walking home at night? Better to intercept and question them. And let the innocent go on about their way. We need humans in the loop.

    I say we organize some safaris for mercenaries. Come on over and you can kill as many verified poachers as you want. Some people would actually pay.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  11. Old School Solution by Toad-san · · Score: 1

    So my classic "trip wire and hand grenade" solution is right out then?

  12. What a great guy! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure who this Al guy is but he's doing a lot of great things. :)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  13. No match for human stupidity and greed by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

    The most advanced AI systems are no match for the stupidity and greed of poachers. I can see a new job emerging, paying kids to go around finding & smashing AI cameras.

    --
    Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.