Ships are turning whales into 'ocean roadkill'. This AI system is trying to stop it

Fran was a celebrity whale – the most photographed humpback in the San Francisco Bay, with 277 recorded sightings since 2005. Last month, she was hit by a ship and killed. Her death marked a grim milestone: Fran was the fifth whale to be killed by a ship strike in the area this year, according to the Marine Mammal Center. Collisions with ships are one of the leading causes of death for endangered whales, who breed, eat and travel in deep channels in the same busy waters that cargo ships frequent. Whales that spend their lives near the surface – such as humpbacks and right whales – are especially at risk. One 2019 study likened their plight to those of land animals forced to criss-cross the highways that cut through their habitats.