Good news – you can now go on safari from the comfort of your living room.

This thanks to Africam, the South African company that’s taken game viewing to the next level by teaching machines to track and identify “animal celebrities”.

Paul Penzhorn, CEO of Africam, wanted to make this a reality in order to bring our wildlife into the global spotlight.

Business Insider spoke to Penzhorn about the initiative:

“I wanted the 99.5% of the world that cannot afford to go on safari in Africa to experience the beauty of African wildlife and at the same time tell the story of the endangered animals,” said Penzhorn

More from him here:

Fixed cameras and infrared cameras make it possible for the channel to provide free 24-hour live streams from six waterholes across the country.

Africam is taking livestreaming one step further by teaching AI facial recognition software from Amazon to identify animals.

Called Rekognition, it can identify the animals individually, like this giant tusker elephant Ernie at the Tembe game reserve.

“There are only 20 big tuskers left in Africa. By giving them names and tracking them when they come to the water hole it builds the audience,” said Penzhorn.

Penzhorn says the AI is so smart you could potentially hold up your cell phone camera and have the information pop up in front of you – it can already send out push notifications to your phone via their app.

Soon they will have taught the AI to track the animals and move the camera so that you can keep tabs on them.

Thousands of people, for instance, tuned in to watch the story of Gertjie a baby rhino left for dead after its mother was killed by poachers. Its story on Africam was able to raise some R200,000 to help her, says Penzhorn.

Here’s Gertjie:

Heartbreaking.

Videos like the one above can be used to raise awareness and much-needed funding to help conserve Africa’s wildlife.

It’s also an invaluable resource for researchers.

The AI is starting to move beyond just recognising animal celebrities – the collected data will in future be used to combat poaching and predict animal behaviour.

“We are using AI on the cameras and footage from the safari trucks to track the animals and then further predict where they will move during the night to help anti-poaching. We will quickly build up a data base of animal movements and behaviour that can be used by the rangers and conservation.”

The live streams are broadcast to Europe and the US where their main viewership is based.

You can check out the live streams here.

[source:businessinsider]