The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia is one of several helping to search for alien civilizations.Credit: Jim West/Alamy From the hills of West Virginia to the flats of rural Australia, some of the world's largest telescopes are listening for signals from distant alien civilizations. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence, known as SETI, is an effort to find artificial-looking electromagnetic radiation that might have come from a technologically advanced civilization in a far-away solar system. A study published today1 describes one of several efforts to use machine learning, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), to help astronomers sift quickly through the reams of data such searches yield. As AI reshapes many scientific fields, what promise does it hold for the search for life beyond Earth? "It is a new era for SETI research that is opening up thanks to machine learning technology," says Franck Marchis, a planetary astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

The'Netflix AI' set to hunt for aliens: Machine learning algorithm developed for online recommendations will scour the skies for systems that could sustain life Researchers are using machine learning to find stable planetary systems It uses techniques developed for Google's and Netflix recommendations The tool will also reveal the mass and how elliptical an exoplanet's orbit is Will be used to analyse data from NASA planet hunting mission It uses techniques developed for Google's and Netflix recommendations The tool will also reveal the mass and how elliptical an exoplanet's orbit is Machine learning software (pictured) that pull inspiration from Google and Netflix's algorithms could soon discover alien life in outer space. Did HALLUCINOGENS spark the Salem witch trials? Experts say... Iron Man suits, X ray detectors and a fake Facebook and... Hello there! Chimps can recognise friends with a single... How Donald Trump's administration could change the internet:... Did HALLUCINOGENS spark the Salem witch trials? Experts say... Iron Man suits, X ray detectors and a fake Facebook and... Hello there!