From the public service sector to businesses to individuals, AI’s uptake across New Zealand has been rapid. And it’s not just large language models. Claire Concannon meets researchers who are harnessing different kinds of artificial intelligence to boost aquaculture, prepare for a measles outbreak and assist in urban conservation. But alongside the benefits sit potential harms. How can we try to minimise them in our AI future?

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In this episode:

01:00 – Introduction to Dr Andrew Lensen and about AI

06:00 – Professor Bing Xue and applied AI for aquaculture

09:15 – Dr Fiona Callaghan models measle outbreak scenarios

13:30 – Dr Andrew Lensen and the kākā project

18:30 – Social and ethical issues of AI…

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This week, an underwater mystery connecting New Zealand and Ireland - the puzzle of the disappearing sponges of Lough Hyne. In the late 1990s/early 2000s James Bell was doing PhD research on the sponge communities that coated the underwater cliffs of this small sea inlet in West Cork. When he returned 15 years later, they had vanished. Why did they disappear, are they starting to recover, and can they be helped to return? Now a Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, these are the key questions that James, and PhD candidates from his lab, have been working to answer.

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In this episode:

00:00 – Divers return, introduction to Lough Hyne and its scientific history.

02:50 – James Bell on his early research at Lough Hyne and the surprising disappearance of sponge communities.

05:15 – Gabi Wood and Kea Witting get ready to dive at Whirlpool Cliffs.

06:30 – James Bell explains the unique tidal regime of Lough Hyne that means it has many diverse habitats.

09:00 – Gabi Wood is collecting water samples to study sponge feeding and nutrient levels.

11:00 – What caused the sponges to disappear.

14:00 – Kea Witting is investigating sponge community recovery.

21:00 – Experiments to help the sponges return…

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Need a nature fix? RNZ now has a podcast feed dedicated to our beautifully produced series telling stories from te taiao nature. Check out the Wild Sounds feed – now playing Voices from Antarctica, featuring Alison Ballance reporting from the frozen deep south.

Find and follow Wild Sounds on your favourite podcast platform, or listen on RNZ

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details