Bioacoustic AI for wildlife protection

生物多样性危机正成为人们关注的焦点。BioacAI网络将实现人工智能声学监测的承诺，为野生动物保护建立一个重要的现代证据来源。生物多样性丧失在影响和可能性方面都被列为全球五大风险之一（世界经济论坛2020年，2021年，2022年）。大陆规模的评估警告说，鸟类和昆虫等主要分类群的数量正在下降。然而，监测生物多样性变化的数据在空间、时间和分类上仍然不完整。为了稳定生物多样性趋势和评估生态系统恢复干预措施，更好、更快地监测世界野生动物，并提供快速情报，使我们能够管理这些风险，这一点至关重要。录音是一种廉价、快速和强大的方法，可以监测许多重要的动物物种，现代机器学习可以从根本上提高它的规模和精度。然而，存在两个障碍：人工智能增强的生物声学监测工具处于较低的准备水平，很少有端到端解决方案可用；此外，还存在巨大的技能缺口——目前没有培训项目培养出具备声学、人工智能（AI）和动物学/生态学等领域技能的专家。BioacAI博士网络正是为了解决这些问题而设计的。我们的研究项目直接在野生动物声学监测的背景下开发新的人工智能方法，使用欧洲领先的生物声学公司的设备，在积极的野生动物监测部署中。我们的培训计划提供“全栈”生物声学人工智能技能和有针对性的研究经验，以培养下一代专业人士-这些人利用技术进行创新，以前所未有的全球规模和细节监测和了解动物。

The biodiversity crisis is coming into sharp focus. The BioacAI network will establish a vital modern evidence source for wildlife protection, by bringing the promise of AI-powered acoustic monitoring to fruition.Biodiversity loss is ranked as one of the top 5 global risks, both in impact and likelihood (World Economic Forum 2020, 2021, 2022). Continental-scale assessments warn of population declines in major taxa such as birds and insects. Yet data for monitoring biodiversity change remain incomplete - spatially, temporally and taxonomically. To stabilise biodiversity trends and assess ecosystem restoration interventions, it is crucial to monitor the world's wildlife better, faster, and to provide rapid intelligence that can enable us to manage these risks.Sound recording is a cheap, rapid and powerful way to monitor many key animal species, and modern machine learning can radically improve its scale and precision. However, there are two barriers: AI-enhanced tools for bioacoustic monitoring are at a low readiness level, with few end-to-end solutions available; and there is a big skills gap - no current training programme produces experts with skills spanning acoustics, artificial intelligence (AI) and zoology/ecology.The BioacAI doctoral network is designed to address exactly these issues. Our research programme develops new AI methods directly within the context of acoustic wildlife monitoring, using devices from leading European bioacoustics companies, in active wildlife monitoring deployments.Our training programme provides "full stack" bioacoustic AI skills and targeted research experience, to build the next generation of professionals - the people who innovate with technology to monitor and understand animals at unprecedented global scale and detail.