The nature of AI: solving the planet's data gap | Drew Purves

Could we use the sound of a coral reef to determine its health? Do we know where all the world's natural forests are? And are we on the verge of using AI to decode animal communication? In this episode, Professor Hannah Fry is joined by Drew Purves, Nature Lead at Google DeepMind. They explore how AI is helping ecologists map forests and species for the first time in history and how this data can be used to better understand the root causes of deforestation. They also explore bioacoustics and how sound is playing a pivotal role in tracking species on land and underwater —providing a powerful new way for us to understand and protect the environment. Timecodes: 00:00 Coming up 00:43 Introduction 03:35 AI for nature 05:30 Mapping the biosphere 16:14 Deforestation drivers 19:45 Species mapping 26:50 Perch and acoustic ecology 37:00 Animal communication 38:55 The future of ecology with AI 40:33 Hannah's thoughts ___ Further reading: Natural forests of the world: https://sciety.org/articles/activity/... https://github.com/google-deepmind/fo... Forest loss drivers https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10... https://www.wri.org/insights/forest-l... https://www.globalforestwatch.org/blo... Perch https://github.com/google-research/perch https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159... https://blog.google/outreach-initiati... Deep learning based remote sensing (open source) https://github.com/google-deepmind/jeo https://github.com/google-deepmind/ge... Species mapping paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.11900 Google resources https://earthengine.google.com/ https://agri.withgoogle.com/ https://blog.google/outreach-initiati... Agile modeling https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.03071 https://github.com/google-research/pe... DolphinGemma https://blog.google/technology/ai/dol... ___ Thanks to everyone who made this possible, including but not limited to: Presenter: Professor Hannah Fry Series Producer: Dan Hardoon Editor: Rami Tzabar Commissioner & Producer: Emma Yousif Music composition: Eleni Shaw Audio engineer: Richard Courtice Production Manager: Dan Lazard Studio Manager: Nicholas Duke Video Director: Bernardo Resende Video Editor: Bilal Merhi Audio Engineer: Perry Rogantin Camera and Lighting Operator: Robert Messere Production Coordination: Zoey Roberts, Sarah Ellen Morton Visual Identity and Design: Rob Ashley Commissioned by Google DeepMind ___ Subscribe to our channel    / @googledeepmind   Find us on X   / googledeepmind   Follow us on Instagram   / googledeepmind   Add us on Linkedin   / deepmind