Advances in AI A Hopeful Glimpse of the Future
Minimising the amount of time that disease has to spread in a herd gives farmers an opportunity to lessen the damage caused by infections and means a lesser response is required when it comes to managing infectious disease. Artificial Intelligence developed by Qrious aims to create an early warning system by monitoring patterns of animal health to potentially predict new diseases and outbreaks like foot and mouth. With M. Bovis still making appearances in Canterbury, and foot and mouth being present in herds in other countries, this kind of technology could be a vital tool for farmers aiming to keep ahead of infections.
Qrious has previously been involved with the development of an AI programme that was fed various audio files to help it learn to differentiate between Kiwi and non-Kiwi, a tool that is helping DOC to identify the presence of Kiwi by cutting down the manual input needed to analyse their audio files. They have also been involved in hazard detection for EnviroNZ.
These types of advances offer insight into the potential for technology to be utilised for the early detection of potential hazards, giving hard working farmers and businesses an advantage in keeping their animals and staff safe by processing vital data faster than a human can. It is an exciting glimpse into the future of innovations that could provide a leg up in the face of increasingly challenging, demanding working conditions.
You can read more about the AI for animal health monitoring in this Otago Daily Times article.