Endangered orcas helped by Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft recently launched its new Artificial Intelligence for Earth program. They're using the speed of computers to tackle some of our most pressing environmental issues. "Artificial intelligence is just the idea of trying to teach computers to be able to do similar tasks that humans can naturally do," said Microsoft Chief Environmental Scientist Lucas Joppa. One of their projects is focused on saving the Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) from extinction, using the same premise of facial recognition software. "What we're trying to do is bring that same level of sophistication to animals like orcas. But to be able to track them through photos, we need to be able to teach computers what we see," Joppa said.