Shark-spotting drones equipped with powerful cameras and artificial intelligence will start patrolling some Australian beaches this September, Reuters reports.The country ranked No. 2 in the world in unprovoked shark encounters with humans last year, according to the University of Florida. Officials in Australia hope the AI-enriched copters will boost shark warning efforts without disrupting marine life, such as past experiments with protective shark nets.The drones, a joint project between the University of Technology Sydney and a private drone company, the Little Ripper Group, are able to fly over the water and spot sharks with as much as three times the accuracy of the human eye.They do this with AI. The drone’s creators used publicly available aerial video of sharks to train software on the drones to digitally tag sharks from above.Once they’ve spotted a shark, the drones can do all sorts of things: speak to endangered swimmers with a megaphone, drop a life raft, or communicate with rescue officials.The wider drone launch builds off a program in the Australian state of New South Wales, where officials were piloting the drone, part of the state and country’s recent efforts to use high-tech solutions to prevent shark attacks.
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