Sharks are congregating at a California beach. AI is trying to keep swimmers safe

On summer mornings, local kids gather at Padaro Beach in California to learn to surf in gentle whitewater waves. A few years ago, the beach became a popular hangout for juvenile great white sharks. This led to the launch of SharkEye, an initiative that uses drones to monitor what’s happening beneath the waves. If a shark is spotted, SharkEye sends a text to the people who have signed up for alerts, including local lifeguards, surf shop owners, and parents of children who take lessons. SharkEye is using the video it collects to analyze shark behavior and train an AI technology to detect great white sharks near Padaro Beach. SharkEye’s technology has performed well in early tests, detecting most sharks a human can and sometimes sharks that a human missed. Currently, community alerts are based on human analysis, but they may become AI-assisted in the future. AI technologies are being used in various ways to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, such as alerting villagers in India when tigers are closing in on their livestock. SharkEye plans to make its AI model available for researchers to amend or build on and create an AI-powered app for lifeguards and drone hobbyists to use. The goal is to better understand and protect sharks while also keeping people safe. The expansion of SharkEye to other locations may require retraining, but the team is open to working with other localities to adapt the model.