Microsoft funds AI that tracks elephants by their calls

Increasingly, it's being applied to conservation; a coalition of researchers earlier this year developed a machine learning algorithm that can identify and describe wildlife. And in a blog post this week, Microsoft highlighted a Santa Cruz-based startup -- Conservation Metrics -- that's leveraging AI to keep tabs on African savanna elephants. Conservation Metrics, a recipient of Microsoft's AI for Earth grant program, is using algorithms to analyze a corpus from Cornell University Lab of Ornithology's Elephant Listening Project, which collects data from acoustic sensors embedded throughout Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park and adjacent logging areas in the Republic of Congo. Its system isolates elephant calls -- the low-frequency rumbling sounds they use to communicate with one another -- from the recordings and derives insights, like population size and herd movement. It's precise enough to identify individual animals that can't be seen from the air, according to Conservation Metrics CEO Matthew McKown.