A very good illustration of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be used to save lives is the shark spotting drones.

Westpac Little Ripper Lifesaver have worked closely with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to develop an Artificial Intelligence based system “Shark Spotter” that is able to detect sharks with high accuracy, in real-time. This technology allows for faster reaction times to potential shark threats at beaches.

The software uses marine object recognition to detect shark’s presence among swimmers or surfers and automatically alerts them. Aerial videos of sharks from publicly available sources are used to train the system’s algorithms and differentiate sharks from other marine creatures, surfers, swimmers and boats.

Drones equipped with the shark detection system are supporting lifeguards to patrol some Australian beaches in a bid to improve safety.