What does a dying coral reef sound like? AI is developing an answer

Fish swim at a coral reef inside a 'Rahui' or restricted area in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia. AI is learning to distinguish the soundscapes of degraded reefs from healthy ones, a framework that could be used to evaluate restoration efforts or to determine when commercial fishing bans are needed. — Reuters

Ben Williams sits quietly in his London apartment, waiting for a very specific sound to emerge from his headphones. He’ll know it when he hears it: Williams says the short, percussive bang “can shake you out of your skin”.

A PhD student in marine ecology at University College London, Williams is listening to underwater recordings captured in the Indo-Pacific for acoustic evidence of blast fishing, a destructive practice that uses explosives to kill or stun fish. His findings are critical to Google DeepMind – where Williams is a student researcher – which is using them to train an AI tool known as SurfPerch.