“Advise a wise man, and he will listen to you. Advise a fool, and he will make fun of you.” ―
“Manipulation is application of
intelligence on people to achieve a premeditated outcome solely benefitting
the former than latter, AI is the best example of it.” ”
―
Mouloud Benzadi is a British Algerian writer, translator, linguist, and researcher. Sri Ramana Pemmaraju, is an English Writer, Columnist and has contributed his works in diverse fields such as Research, Publications, Copy/ Technical documentation. Thanks to the first quote which I stumbled upon while reading a writeup in a Sunday supplement of a newspaper which makes me remember the next one & think of mine at last! What Mr Benzadi wrote must be a few years back as today he would have changed his words to advise a fool & he will forward your advice to many other fools, needless to say without meaning it! And the words of Mr Pemmaraju are in alignment with Mr Benzadi, as that’s exactly what Ai is doing today! Now you will say what’s in common with wisdom, foolishness, AI & wildlife, well, the chaos is common which is happening at present when all these come together & add social media in it, more chaos is the result, so this sharing! Here I would like to bring to your attention the announcements regarding AI (Artificial Intelligence) & its use in “aam admi’s” (Janata) life & so smitten our rulers of this AI thingy, that they are not sparing even wildlife from it! The main concern (if our govt thinks wildlife is a matter of concern) of wildlife at present is man-animal conflict, though I personally doesn’t agree with word as conflict is friction between two parties where they are equal or near equal on all scales, but when we are talking about one fifty crore numbered species(I am refereeing only our country) which are equipped with all modern day gadgets to make their lives comfortable versus some lakhs of wild animals who doesn’t have any technology at their service but what mother nature has given them, it can't be conflict, its one way conflict at the most you can say where we all know who is going to rule the game, its always we the humans!
After reading these words which does sound dramatic you may think I am a frantic environmentalist (which I am not) as I understand out of these crores of humans there are few thousands who are on wrong side of conflict i.e. they have to suffer when their lives cross path with wildlife & in this context our Mai Baap govt is thinking of use of AI to help humans & wildlife survive together! Well, that’s one use of AI in wildlife, though its effectiveness has yet to be measured as nature doesn’t run by intelligence, & definitely not by human’s intelligence who rarely bother to care about nature & its way of living! In Tadoba (where else) AI is helping people living around villages by alerting them at night about movements of wild animals like tiger & sloth bear & reducing their encounter with humans. Again, how this can be called as AI, I don’t understand as this is a normal surveillance system but I think nowadays when you attach AI with any system, it sounds nice, which is the main purpose of rulers to achieve, so be it! At the same time a lot of research is needed to increase use of AI which will actually help wildlife also at large along with humans & for that we need people who understand wildlife in the right way or say balanced way. Obliviously, humans living around forests are in a way wildlife only as they too are part of day-to-day life of all the wild animals around & if we can use AI or any technology to help them that’s going to help wildlife only! One important aspect is, using AI for empowerment (skill development) of the locals around wildlife as if they start using technology for their own personal development then they will be less dependent on forest for survival which will be the biggest help to wildlife by AI! And for that, we need lots of research which doesn’t seem to be happening, with due respect to efforts from govt for the same. Or else, check the figures of tiger’s death in the first two months itself of the year 2026 which can be considered as a scale for success or failure of wildlife. And then, add deaths of elephants & many such species which are the outcome of whenever these species cross paths with humans or our establishments & sadly, leave AI, we are not able to protect lives of wild animals by using even the basic technology is a fact & we are talking of AI! For e.g. death of wild animals crossing our Highways, Railways or High-Tension Power lines or Electric Fences around our farmlands, & the death toll is alarming; so, why are we not using AI along these so-called “paths of progress” which are actually ways to heaven (in real way) for saving wildlife, is my question to the entire system!! As well, AI can be very effectively used to make the common public aware about wildlife, especially those who have not seen real wildlife or forest i.e. education front, which again can save many wild animals lives!
Indeed, there are efforts by which we can keep an eye through Drones on wild animals especially those whom we can’t go near such as tigers, elephants, or sloth bears or those which are very shy (wild dogs) & nocturnal (only move in darkness of night). Here, we can use AI to detect any illness or deficiency as well their behaviour pattern & from the visuals by Drone camera & it will tell us more about the species, as in wildlife knowledge is the key! As, to conserve anything we must know as much as we can about that thing & every living thing other than humans is afraid of us (barring dogs & cats) & they have their own reasons for doing & that makes studying wildlife difficult for us. And this I am speaking about only the animals or species which are on ground & visible to us as there are thousands of species which live under surface of see, fly up high in the sky & lives below earth also & then some lives in habitats where humans can’t survive in natural state i.e. high altitudes or hottest deserts. In all such situations AI can be our best rather, the only tool to study wildlife & make their life comfortable, which I don’t think is happening or any budgetary provisions are being made for the same, is my subject of sharing.
At present there is another danger of AI looming over wildlife & social media is giving it a perfect (sarcasm) platform for that danger, yes, I am referring to fake AI made clips or footage of wildlife which at present is the biggest threat for wildlife from coexistence angle & its impact is such that even the forest dept has to take cognizance of such AI clips & make an appeal on social media regarding the same. Many of you must be remembering a clip which went viral on social media where one guard was sitting on the veranda of a forest guest house & suddenly a tiger came & dragged the guard in the forest of Bramhapuri near Tadoba! That clip has been forwarded to me by at least twenty people, asking for its exact location & it was on every WhatsApp group! This clip was totally made by AI, as with a keen eye & little bit of knowledge & some logic (all of these, most don't have or use; sarcasm) one can easily make out that. For instance, a tiger never attacks any human in the open, that too sitting in the veranda of a home unless it is a known man-eater, which there is none in recently around Tadoba. Usually such clips lack specific details always of a place as the maker doesn’t know them. Unless a tiger has killed the prey it won’t drag the prey which the clip was showing & more importantly there were roars even when the tiger has held the victim with its jaw, how can it do that i.e. roar while it has held prey in its jaw! And then, no blood spilling was seen from the victim’s body, in that clip, one more detail missing! And these are very basic observations, I can write an essay about rest points but then not many people have seen wild life & those who has seen they haven’t observed the details of wildlife & outcome is they believe on every such clip or photo & forward ahead making masses panic or become enemy of wildlife, this is the worst damage AI can do to the entire wildlife than actually killing it! And then later, there were episodes of this clip where the same tiger gets a bucket of water for the guard, but the damage has been done! And if not killing of humans, then there are many AI made clips of wildlife where you see a fifty feet Python or a leopard adopting a deer fawn & the title of such clips is wonder of nature or kindness of nature, making you (majority of masses) believe the same & forward it. Such posts made with AI spreads misunderstanding about wildlife as whenever some person accidently encounters such a species, then they may react by going through such clips, & the outcome will be dangerous! Here, all we can do is whenever you get any such clip of information about wildlife then first try to look at it with some logic & take assistance from people who know wildlife & till that time please don’t forward or share with others thinking its true! And the best way is, start going to forests, read books about wildlife, watch authentic channels like NatGeo & get the right information about wildlife! Forest depts & NGO’s must start a drive about this aspect & make common people aware about wrong use of AI in making clips on social media on every possible forum & platform, is my reason for sharing this piece!
And then comes another aspect of use of AI in wildlife & that is, use of AI by the ill elements i.e. poachers, because if the right people can use technology for right things, then the same technology can be used by the wrong people for doing wrong things also, right? And this is where the govt (enforcement agencies related to wildlife & NGO’s also must keep keen eye on the use of technology by the wrong people in wildlife. History is proof that bad people are always a step ahead of good people as they don’t have any rules, budgets, approvals, type procedural delays to use technology for their interest & more than that they don’t have to bother about ill effects of use of technology on the wildlife as their purpose is different! This makes the challenge for the right people tough as nature can protect its pride creation i.e. wildlife from each other & even from humans when it’s put on scale of natural powers but with wrong use of AI nature has no means to protect its weaker siblings, i.e. wildlife from humans! Take example of nocturnal animals like Martin or Pangolins or Porcupines, they are very hard to find in the first place, even for the poachers as they move in pitch darkness, run for shelter even with slightest of danger & very sharp in smelling or listening, so to catch them with normal ways is near impossible for humans & this is why such species have survived safely. But with AI backed technology, tracking these animals even in darkness & to locate their remotely located nests or say hides (read as home) will be super easy & suddenly there is no natural protection for these species as barring their hiding skills they have no tool to survive in the open, I think research is must to counter attack this threat of AI to wildlife in advance! This is where right AI & wrong AI will stand against each other & only the humans using it who will move fast & with dedication, will decide the fate of the wildlife, adios with this warning which is not AI generated!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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