Beachgoers in Australia can be a little less panicky about shark attacks this summer, because artificial intelligence-equipped drones will be monitoring the water for big scary fish. Developed by researchers at University of Technology Sydney, the AI system--dubbed Sharkspotter--can identify sharks and notify beachgoers when they're nearby. An Australian drone company called Westpac teamed up with the school to outfit its battery-powered Little Ripper Lifesaver unmanned helicopters with the technology in an effort to, hopefully, offer swimmers and surfers better protection. The AI-equipped drones will patrol "many main beaches in Australia" this summer, the school said in a news release. "The system will give an overhead warning to swimmers/surfers when a shark or a potential risk is detected, using an on-board megaphone attached to the drones," Professor Michael Blumenstein, head of the UTS School of Software, said in a statement, adding that the system "will create a positive impact for the public, making beach recreation much safer." Sharkspotter uses "cutting-edge deep neural networks and image processing techniques" to examine live video feeds in real time and detect the presence of sharks, and distinguish them from other marine life and objects, the school said.

At best, they'll accurately pinpoint sharks 30 percent of the time -- not very helpful for swimmers worried about stepping into the water. Australia, however, is about to get a more reliable way of spotting these undersea predators. As of September, Little Ripper drones will monitor some Australian beaches for signs of sharks, and pass along their imagery to an AI system that can identify sharks in real-time with 90 percent accuracy. Humans will still run the software (someone has to verify the results), but this highly automated system could be quick and reliable enough to save lives. The detection AI is a quintessential machine learning system.

A drone that can spot sharks and warn people has been developed by Australian researchers. The battery powered, unmanned drone uses an artificial intelligence technology to identify sharks and send out a safety warning through a megaphone. The drones will be used to patrol many main beaches in Australia from the summer of 2017 or 2018. The battery powered, unmanned drones uses an artificial intelligence technology to identify sharks and send out a safety warning through a megaphone. The drone works via real time analysis of overhead footage, and information can be relayed immediately to emergency services, beach lifeguards and beach users to help make safe decisions about getting into the water.