Sunday, May 10, 2026

Venice Biennale opens under shadow of protests over Russia and Israel

Global politics are casting a long shadow at the Venice Biennale, which opens for six months on Saturday. The world's oldest contemporary art event is off to a rocky start amid resignations, boycotts and protests over the inclusion of Russia and Israel.

Issued on: 09/05/2026 - RFI

The newly renovated French pavilion at the Venice Biennale art show in Italy, which opens on 9 May 2026. Artist Yto Barrada is representing France with her installation "Comme Saturne". © Jacopo La Forgia - Institut français

By: Ollia Horton with RFI

As the international art show takes over Italy's canal city for its 61st edition, Russia is returning to the Biennale for the first time since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ukrainian feminist collective Femen and Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot joined forces to demonstrate outside the Russian pavilion at the start of press previews on Wednesday.

"We are here to remind that the only Russian culture, the only Russian art today is blood," Femen activist Inna Shevchenko told reporters. "This pavilion stands on Ukrainian mass graves."

Ksenia Malykh, curator of Ukraine's pavilion, said: "They [the Russians] say art is beyond politics but they’re using art as a weapon, in a hybrid war in Europe. So it’s absolutely insane that they’re here. No one progressive could accept that."

A Pussy Riot activist holds an Ukrainian flag during a protest against the participation of Russia in the Venice Biennale art show, in front of the Russian pavilion on 6 May 2026.

@ AFP - MARCO BERTORELLO

The art fair's international jury resigned last month, saying they would not hand out awards to countries led by figures subject to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court – namely, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called Russia's participation in the Biennale "morally wrong" and said the European Union was considering cutting €2 million of funding to the festival.

In March, culture and foreign ministers from 22 European countries, including France, asked the organisers to reconsider. "Culture is not separate from the realities societies face," they wrote in a joint letter, arguing that "granting Russia a prestigious international cultural platform sends a deeply troubling signal".

Italy's Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli – who has repeatedly expressed the Italian government's opposition to Russia's inclusion – has said he will not be going to the opening ceremony.

How the Russian invasion has sparked a renaissance of Ukrainian culture

Russia's pavilion will not be open to the public during the Biennale, which runs until 22 November.

Instead, live performances that took place during press previews this week were recorded and will be shown on outdoor screens. The Russian exhibit will be eligible for the art fair's prizes, which this year will be awarded by visitors' votes.

In a statement on Facebook, Russia's ambassador to Italy, Aleksei Paramonov, said there was "truly something painful and unreasonable about the European Union's obsession with targeting Russian culture and art with sanctions and restrictions of all kinds".
Protests over Gaza

Israeli artists are also back at the Biennale, after refusing to open their exhibit at the last edition in 2024 amid the war in Gaza.

Shortly after Wednesday's demonstration outside the Russian exhibit, about a hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in front of Israel's pavilion, holding up banners saying "No artwashing genocide" and brandishing the names of Palestinian artists killed in Gaza.

The artist representing France, Yto Barrada, is among more than 200 participants who have signed a letter demanding Israel's exclusion, saying they refuse to allow organisers "to platform the Israeli state as it commits genocide".

The Israeli government has accused protesters of discrimination.

Representing Israel's pavilion, sculptor Belu-Simion Fainaru that the Biennale should be based on "inclusion and dialogue and free expression. A place where you can feel safe, to create and do whatever you believe in."

Cinema and politics collide at Berlin Film Festival in row over Gaza war

The president of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, defended his team's choices and said art should remain neutral.

"If the Biennale were to start selecting not works but affiliations, not visions but passports, it would cease to be what it has always been: the place where the world comes together, and all the more so when the world is torn apart," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"Art has a power far greater than any form of oppression. Art opens the way for the future and gives us the possibility of erasing catastrophes," he said.
Iran absent

"La Biennale seeks to be – and must remain – a place of truce in the name of art, culture, and artistic freedom," organisers said in a statement following the jury's resignation last month.

Days before the opening, Iran announced it would not open a pavilion. No reason was given in the Biennale's official statement, but the country is currently at war with Israel and the United States.

That leaves around 100 countries participating in this year's Biennale.

France has ramped up its presence, with some 20 artists participating in solo and group shows.

Taking on the event's theme, "In Minor Keys", French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada is presenting an enigmatic installation in the French pavilion inspired by the ambivalent figure of the Roman god Saturn.

Photo of the "La salle des plis" (The Room of Folds), part of the "Comme Saturne" installation by French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada at the 2026 Venice Biennale. © Jacopo La Forgia - Institut français

Curated by Myriam Ben Salah, Comme Saturne brings together numerous textile techniques to blend references to ritual, myth, labour, agriculture, matter and language. The title also refers to the famous phrase by Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, a figure of the French Revolution who was guillotined in 1793: "The Revolution, like Saturn, devours its children."

According to a prophecy, Saturn would be overthrown by one of his sons. In response, he ate his sons as soon as they were born. But the mother of his children hid one child, Jupiter, who went on to banish his father and rule supreme.

Barrada plays with this image by using a technique known as "dévoré", in which the surface of a fabric is chemically dissolved to create semi-transparent patterns.

Photo of the "Salle de Travail" (Working Room), part of the "Comme Saturne" installation by French-Moroccan artist Yto Barrada at the 2026 Venice Biennale.

© Jacopo La Forgia - Institut français

For Eva Nguyen Binh, head of the Institut Français, the French cultural institute responsible for the pavilion, this project sums up "what art can repair and provide: an ability to break down geographical and artistic boundaries, to foster community, draw from history in order to question the present, and to make overlooked narratives visible, especially those of women and minorities".

Political tensions cast shadow over Venice Art Biennale opening

09.05.2026, DPA

Photo: Robert Messer/dpa

The 61st Venice Biennale is due to officially open to visitors on Saturday, a day after thousands of demonstrators gathered in Venice to protest against Israel's participation in the art exhibition.

Alongside the documenta in the German city of Kassel, the art biennial is considered the most important presentation of contemporary art and attracts artists and guests from around the world.

Last week, in a dispute over how to deal with Russia and Israel, the jury resigned en masse - an unprecedented event since the Biennale's founding in 1895.

The grand opening ceremony has been cancelled, as has the usual presentation of the Golden Lions.

Prizes will now only be awarded at the end of the Biennale in November – and no longer by a jury, but through a vote by the public.

The director of the Biennale, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, rejected criticism of Russia's participation. He accused his critics of narrow-mindedness and defended the event as a bastion of artistic freedom and dialogue.

The festival is set to run until November 22.

Croatia gets Europe's first commercial robotaxi service

07.05.2026, DPA

Photo: Verne/dpa

Robotaxis have taken to the roads of Croatia in what operators say is the first time a commercial driverless taxi service has been made available to the public anywhere in Europe.

Croatian mobility company Verne said it has been operating 11 of the white-painted taxis since April 8.

According to the company, a journey costs €1.99 at the introductory rate. Registered customers can book a ride and unlock the car doors via an app.

The taxis are based on the Chinese Arcfox Alpha T5, made by Chinese automotive giant BAIC and not available to buy in Europe.

Looking ahead, Verne also plans to deploy its own purpose-built autonomous vehicle, a compact two-seat robotaxi specifically designed for driverless ride-hailing. The service is backed by Uber and powered by the Chinese self-driving company pony.ai.

The robotaxi service will initially be available through the Verne app and is set to be soon accessible through the Uber app, following a recently announced strategic partnership between Verne, Pony.ai and Uber.

The service is designed to run completely autonomously but, as with self-driving taxi services in the US in their early days, the car still has a human behind the wheel to intervene if anything goes awry.

The plan is to move over to full robot control over the car in Zagreb by the end of the year. Verne said tens of thousands of kilometres have already been covered by the robotaxis and some 300 passengers carried, with no collisions reported.

Verne said discussions on further rolling out the robotaxis are under way with 11 cities across the EU, UK and Middle East.

Europe-based social networks launch bid to challenge tech giants

New schemes to launch Europe-based social networks face a steep, rocky road to seduce users away from American and Asian giants in the sector. Founders, nevertheless, see opportunity in the disillusionment and distrust of major platforms that have spiked alongside transatlantic tensions under Donald Trump's second presidency.

Issued on: 10/05/2026 -
By: FRANCE 24

A new crop of European social media apps want to find room in a crowded market dominated by established American and Asian apps

© Saeed KHAN / AFP/File

A flurry of new schemes to launch Europe-based social networks faces a steep, rocky road to seduce users away from American and Asian giants in the sector.

Founders, nevertheless, see opportunity in the disillusionment and distrust of major platforms that have spiked alongside transatlantic tensions under Donald Trump's second presidency.

"We think the timing is perfect, in a context where relations between Europe and the US are still deteriorating," said Gregoire Vigroux, co-founder of Croatia-based network eYou.

"It's time for Europe to equip itself with its own social networks," he added

Opening to users on Tuesday, eYou is one of a number of efforts on the old continent, including W -- a would-be competitor to X announced in January -- or Eurosky, a platform for accessing independent social networks launched last month.

Bulle (French for "bubble") also launched in January, promising a "healthy social network" while Monnett -- a hybrid of TikTok and Instagram -- is set for full release in July.

"The rejection targeting the (American) platforms is still stronger today" than in the past, said Romain Badouard, a researcher at France's Inria computing institute specialising in social networks.

He suggested that a "conservative turn in Silicon Valley" had proved unpopular with European users seeing the likes of X owner Elon Musk or Meta (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) chief Mark Zuckerberg cosying up to Trump.
'Enormous graveyard'

At W, "the idea is to bring back what was once Twitter in the good old days", said founder Anna Zeiter ahead of the Saturday launch.

Some interest is apparent among investors and users in the new crop of networks.

In a second fundraising round, eYou garnered €300,000 ($353,000) in late 2025 while Monnett claims more than 65,000 users on the beta version of its app.

But such figures would be rounding errors to the giants of the sector, which count in hundreds of millions of users and billions in revenue.

The dominance of incumbent players has left little space for challenge beyond niche offerings like Mastodon or BeReal.

© France 24
09:17

"The world of social networks is an enormous graveyard," eYou's Vigroux acknowledged, adding that "99 percent of European social networks launched in the last 10 years have fallen flat".

Badouard pointed to the "network effect" that powered the snowballing of major platforms' user numbers as a factor now shielding them from competition.

For users on Instagram and TikTok, "all the people they know and the accounts they follow" are on the existing networks.

But the "technological maturity" of the latest wave of challengers could still count in their favour, he said.

"They're answering to a lot of the expectations users have," Badouard said.
Out of the algorithm?

There is a familiar litany of criticisms levelled at the big players, including sorting users into "filter bubbles", unevenly-enforced moderation and addictive design.

European would-be competitors see those as openings to vaunt their own virtues.

W promises to keep all but verified human users from posting, while eYou says it will "promote users sharing content considered trustworthy".

"It's really important for us that it's not an algorithm that determine what's on your screen, but yourself," said Christos Floros of Monnett, which is aiming to hit a million users this year.

Such commitments could steepen the path to profitability for the new arrivals, in a market where financial success is still largely determined by raking in advertising sales.

Zeiter said W would have "no crazy hyper-targeted advertising".

"Right now we are all trying out different business models and different approaches," she said.

"Maybe in one or two years we see what's most successful and then we can team up."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Data centers: Tech boom with downsides

Thomas Latschan

Data centers are energy-intensive engines of growth, the backbone and hub of digitalization. Thousands of them are being built all around the world. The Iran war has shown how vulnerable societies are as a result.

An Amazon Web Services data center in the US: Massive server capacity is needed to fuel increasing internet demand

Image: Noah Berger/REUTERS

Dietzenbach is a small German town with a population of around 35,000. Locally it is best known for its open-air forest swimming pool and an architecturally unusual observation tower from which, on a clear day, you can see Frankfurt, some 12 kilometers away.

Its location is probably one of the main reasons why the US tech giant Google chose to invest several billion dollars in a new, high-performance data center. The greater Frankfurt area is one of the most important data center regions in Europe.

DE-CIX Frankfurt is the world's leading internet exchange. At peak times, it handles more than 17 terabits of data traffic. This equates to the amount of data processed if almost 3.5 million people streamed a high-definition film simultaneously. Seventy-six such data centers are already operating in the greater Frankfurt region. Worldwide, there are about 12,000 of these complexes and many more are being built.

The DE-CIX (Deutsche Commercial Internet Exchange) in Frankfurt is the biggest of its kind in the world

Image: Andreas Arnold/dpa/picture alliance

Growing importance of data centers

The internet is now an indispensable part of modern global society, and becoming ever more so. The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, in particular, demands greater volumes of data. Massive server capacity is required to process and store this data and enable the smooth operation of cloud services and internet applications. Consequently data centers are the backbone of the modern internet.

They are also fundamentally significant for the national security of modern industrialized countries, whose economies and societies could barely function without them. Essential procedures for the provision of power and health systems, financial management, transport logistics and many other services are processed through these internet exchanges.

This is why data centers in Germany are classified as part of the country's critical infrastructure and afforded special protection. In March 2026, the federal government published a new national Data Center Strategy, illustrating how significant they are. It plans to double Germany's data center capacity by 2030 and will also aim to reduce its dependence on non-European providers.

AI Bubble incoming? 19:46

Vulnerable hubs

The fact that almost everything online now passes through data centers also makes these complexes a prime target. There has been a sharp increase in cyberattacks in recent years. In January 2026, the German Federal Bank reported that it records more than 5,000 cyberattacks every minute on its own IT systems alone. Data centers are usually well protected against attacks like these and also against possible saboteurs.

Data center building complexes are generally secured with video cameras, fences and barbed wire. And with good reason: In Strasbourg in March 2021, a major fire in one of Europe's largest data centers demonstrated that physical damage to the hubs can also have far-reaching consequences. More than 3.6 million websites went down and many customers lost their data forever because their backups had been stored in the same building.

Strategic targets for attack?

Data centers have also become strategic targets in military conflicts. In the war in Ukraine, for example, IT infrastructure has been specifically targeted with the aim of blocking military operations and massively disrupting civilian supply lines.

Data centers in the Persian Gulf have also come under attack. In the US-Israeli war with Iran, Tehran has fired drones and rockets at three complexes in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. These belonged to the American cloud service provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the attacks caused huge disruption to banking, payment platforms and other systems.

Shortly afterward, the Iranian leadership published a list on Telegram with up to 30 other potential targets that are part of America's IT technology infrastructure in the Gulf. They included data centers, research facilities and the offices of various tech giants such as IBM, Google, Palantir and Oracle. There has been considerable discussion since then about how data centers can be better protected by air defense.

Big investment, big concerns

That's why it is becoming increasingly important to find suitable locations where new data centers can be constructed and reliably secured. However, the people living near these projects are often not at all happy about them.

They are critical of the vast amounts of energy and water data centers require to operate their servers and cool the facilities. Their hardware also wears out very quickly, producing large quantities of electronic waste. Researchers around the world are under pressure to find ways of making the centers more efficient, utilizing the waste heat and powering them with renewable energy.

It is also regarded as problematic that, although investors are often pumping billions of dollars into the construction of the centers, hardly any jobs are created in the region. Data centers often cover tens of thousands of square meters but usually have fewer than 100 people actually working in them. The economic benefit they provide is more likely to be indirect: for example, if other companies that depend on this IT infrastructure decide to locate close by.

Data centers are generally well protected against intruders; they must also be protected against air strikes

Image: Google Handout/dpa/picture-alliance

There have already been protests in various parts of the world. In Chile in 2024, an environmental group successfully demonstrated against the construction of a data center for AI applications. And in April 2026, the legislature in the US state of Maine voted in favor of a moratorium on data centers with a capacity of more than 20 megawatts, citing concerns about the effects on the economy and environment. Janet Mills, the state governor, had to exercise her veto to stop the bill being signed into law.

Germany doesn't always give the go-ahead for new data centers either.

Construction has begun in Dietzenbach but plans for a similar project in Gross-Gerau, around 30 kilometers away, have fallen through. The US investor Vantage Data Centers wanted to spend €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) building another data center here but a majority of the town council voted against. They argued that the project was too big and the effects on environment and society too unclear.

This article was translated from German.

Thomas Latschan Author and editor with a focus on global politics

Harmful AI datacentres appear to be creating their own microclimates

06.05.2026, DPA

Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa

A new preprint study warns AI data centers can heat up surrounding areas by an average of 2°C. As projects surge in California’s Imperial Valley, will regulators treat the local risks as collateral damage?

By Ariana Bindman, SFGate, San Francisco

As global temperatures rise, datacentres for artificial intelligence are creating "heat islands" that could have significant impacts on communities and their surrounding environments in the years to come, a March 2026 study shows, raising alarm among international researchers.

The preprint of the study, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal, looked at data from 2004 to 2024.

Researchers from multiple institutions, including the University of Cambridge and Nanyang Technological University, used satellite data from that time to assess rising land surface temperatures at AI datacentres worldwide. After conducting an analysis, they estimated that surrounding surface areas typically increase by an average of 2 degrees Celsius — or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit — once AI centers start operating, suggesting that the datacentre heat island effect "is real and significant, especially in the context of global warming and climate transformation." Overall, "our results show that the data heat island effect could have a remarkable influence on communities and regional welfare in the future," researchers said in the study.

The implications also suggest that building AI datacentres in heat-stricken areas of California could have dire consequences on local communities.

In Southern California, developers have already invested billions of dollars in constructing AI datacentres in the Imperial Valley, a rural desert community with a poverty rate of 19.5%. The region, which borders Mexico and reaches temperatures of 110 degrees during the summer, is now in another battle to protect natural resources from major corporations.

"We are one of the hottest places on Earth," Anahi Araiza, the head of policy and community research for Imperial Valley Equity and Justice, previously told Californian news website SFGATE. "It's mind-boggling to believe that these projects won't have an impact on our water and energy infrastructure or significantly contribute to air pollution and noise pollution."

Trump's Environmental Protection Agency, however, seems eager to plow ahead on AI development. When SFGATE shared the study with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) press department and asked specific questions about datacentres' potential impacts, a representative said that under Lee Zeldin's leadership, the agency plans to fulfill Trump's goal to make the United States "the AI capital of the world" as part of the "'Powering the Great American Comeback' initiative."

"The Trump EPA understands that we can both protect the environment and grow the economy, fulfilling our core mission and first pillar: ensuring clean air, land, and water for every American," EPA representatives said.

However, just this past week at a congressional hearing, Democrats accused Zeldin's EPA of abandoning its core values to protect humans and the environment, the Guardian reported. Last summer, more than 150 staffers sent a letter to Zeldin expressing concern about his leadership, the New Yorker said, and on April 30, the publication described Zeldin spending his time "gutting the agency he runs."

In February, the EPA revoked a key finding that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health — a key underpinning for the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the Trump administration, Zeldin has made efforts to roll back at least 66 environmental policies, an analysis from the Guardian shows. In April of this year, he proposed cutting the agency's budget in half. Per the outlet, the agency's staffing levels are already the lowest they've been in decades.

AI models can hack computers and self-replicate onto new machines, new research finds

Copyright Canva

By Roselyne Min
Published on 09/05/2026 - EURONEWS

Scientists who observed AI chatbots copying themselves and launching hacking attacks in an experiment say ‘autonomous AI self-replication is no longer hypothetical’.
Artificial intelligence models can break into computers, copy themselves, and use the new copies to keep attacking other machines, according to new research said to be the first known demonstration of autonomous AI self-replication.
The discovery could make cyberattacks far harder to stop, researchers say, because shutting down one infected computer would not be enough if the AI had already made working copies elsewhere.
The study conducted by Palisade Research, in the United States, tested models including OpenAI’s GPT 5, 5.1, and 5.4, Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4, 4.5, and 4.6 and Alibaba’s Qwen against computers which had deliberately planted security flaws that allowed outsiders to gain access.
Researchers connected underlying AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Alibaba to custom software, known as an agent harness, that allowed them to carry out commands and interact with other computers, rather than using public chatbot apps.
The experiment worked in two ways. Alibaba’s models were asked to copy themselves. In the GPT and Claude tests, the models were asked to break in and install Qwen, because GPT and Claude’s own model files are not publicly available for transfer.
In each test, the AI had to find a security flaw in a computer system, use it to get inside, steal login details, transfer the files it needed to run, and start a working copy of itself on the new machine.
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Once a copy was running, it could be used to attack another computer without human help.
At each stage, the AI found a different security flaw, took control of the next computer, moved over its software and instructions, and launched a new copy that continued the chain.
Alibaba’s Qwen3.6-27B, a smaller version of its Qwen AI model that can run on a single high-end graphics processor, spread across four computers in Canada, the United States, Finland, and India, after being given just one prompt, completed the chain without human help in 2 hours and 41 minutes.
The research team stopped the experiment after three stages, but said the final copy was still working and could have attacked further systems.

What were the results?

The models succeeded at varying rates. Alibaba’s Qwen3.5-122B-A10B, a larger and more powerful model of Qwen, created working copies of itself in 19% of attempts.
A smaller Qwen model, Qwen3.6-27B, reached 33% while running on a single high-end graphics processor.
Commercial AI systems performed even better when used to install Qwen model files.
Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 succeeded in 81% of tests, while OpenAI’s GPT-5.4 reached 33%.
Researchers say the results raise new concerns about control over powerful AI systems.
The report comes as Anthropic last month unveiled Claude Mythos Preview, which it said is "too dangerous” to release to the public citing its capacity to facilitate cyberattacks of unprecedented scale and sophistication.
While a lot of computer viruses can already copy themselves onto new computers, the research team says this is likely the first time an AI model has been shown capable of exploiting vulnerabilities to copy itself onto a new server.
OpenAI, Anthropic, and METR, a non-profit group that studies risks from advanced AI systems, have also previously flagged self-replication as a warning sign because systems that can spread may become harder to control.
However, researchers stressed that the experiment was carried out in a controlled setting using intentionally vulnerable systems. Real-world networks often have stronger protections, such as security monitoring and tools designed to block attacks.
Even so, they said the results show that autonomous AI self-replication is no longer hypothetical.

AI cuts wildlife tracking time from months to days

Washington State University
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SpeciesNet's AI prediction can be seen on an image of a lynx.
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Credit: Mammal Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab

PULLMAN, Wash. — Artificial intelligence can dramatically speed up the painstaking work of tracking wildlife with remote cameras, cutting analysis time from months or even a year to just days while producing nearly the same scientific conclusions as humans.
That’s according to a new study led by researchers at Washington State University and Google, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. The team tested whether a fully automated AI system could replace humans in processing hundreds of thousands to millions of camera trap images collected in Washington, Montana’s Glacier National Park, and Guatemala’s Maya Biosphere Reserve.
They found that, for most species, models built from AI-identified images closely matched those produced by human experts. Across key measures such as where animals occur and what environmental factors influence them, the results aligned in roughly 85–90% of cases, with limited divergence for rare or difficult-to-identify species.
The implications could be significant for conservation. Faster processing means researchers and wildlife managers can move more quickly from collecting data to making decisions, potentially enabling near real-time monitoring of species such as jaguars, wolves, and grizzly bears.
“We’re not trying to replace people,” said WSU wildlife ecologist Daniel Thornton, lead author of the study. “The goal is to help researchers get to answers faster so they can make better decisions about managing and conserving wildlife.”
Traditionally, that process has been slow and labor-intensive. Camera traps, which are motion-activated cameras placed in forests and other habitats, can generate enormous datasets. A single project may produce hundreds of thousands or even millions of images that must be reviewed to determine which species appear in each frame.
Even with a team of undergraduate assistants and a graduate student verifying identifications, Thornton said the process typically takes six to seven months, and sometimes up to a year, before analysis can begin.
Early AI tools offered some relief by filtering out blank images, often 60–70% of the total, but still required humans to review tens of thousands of photos containing animals. The new study tested whether that final human step could be eliminated.
Using a general AI model called SpeciesNet, developed by Google, the researchers ran images through a fully automated pipeline with no human review and compared the results to traditional, expert-labeled datasets.
“The key question wasn’t whether the AI got every image right,” said Dan Morris, a senior staff research scientist at Google who helped create SpeciesNet and is a co-author on the study. “It was whether the ecological conclusions you care about would end up being basically the same.”
For most species, they were. Even when the AI made mistakes, such as misidentifying animals or missing detections, the overall models remained robust because occupancy models rely on repeated observations over time.
In practical terms, the time savings are dramatic. Fully automated processing can now be completed in just a few days, reducing a months-long bottleneck to roughly a week.
That efficiency could be transformative, particularly for smaller or underfunded conservation groups. It may also allow researchers to expand monitoring efforts without being limited by data processing capacity.
The project also contributed to the broader AI-for-conservation community by making part of its dataset publicly available, helping support tools like SpeciesNet that rely on shared data to improve.
Morris emphasized that the study takes a practical approach. Rather than developing new AI algorithms, the team focused on what current tools can already do.
“We weren’t trying to invent a new model,” he said. “We were asking whether, given where the technology is today, people can rely on it for the kinds of analyses they already do.”
The answer, at least for many common species and standard ecological models, appears to be yes.
There are still limitations. Human review is needed for many other applications of camera trapping data, and this paper only dealt with a small subset of species that may be caught on camera. For example, very rare and easily confused species are still problematic for AI detection. But the findings suggest that in some cases, image processing no longer needs to be a major constraint on large-scale camera-trapping studies.
“The big takeaway is that this doesn’t have to be a bottleneck anymore,” Thornton said. “If we can process data faster, we can respond faster, and that’s really what matters for conservation.”
Additional co-authors on the study include Travis King and Lucy Perera-Romero of Washington State University; Alissa Anderson of Washington State University and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Rony Garcia-Anleu of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Guatemala Program; Scott Fitkin of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; and Carly Vynne of RESOLVE, who contributed to data collection, analysis, and manuscript development across the project’s study sites in Washington, Montana, and Guatemala.

A camera trap photo of a grizzly bear.

A jaguar visits a water hole in this camera trap image.

Credit

Mammal Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab

Journal

Journal of Applied Ecology

DOI

10.1111/1365-2664.70370

Article Title

Identification of camera trap images by artificial intelligence and human experts produce similar multi-species occupancy models

Article Publication Date

7-May-2026

AI used to make portrait of Pompeii victim in final moments

28.04.2026, DPA

Photo: Italian Culture Ministry/dpa

Visitors at Pompeii can expect entirely new visual insights into life at the time of the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, thanks to the use of AI to reconstruct both the appearance of victims and their final moments.

The Archaeological Park at Pompeii published an AI-generated image on Monday which shows a man running in a crouched position, holding a vessel over his head. In the background, the volcano can be seen spewing lava, along with a shower of rock.

The image is based on the recent discovery of a man’s skeleton by archaeologists during excavations at the Porta Stabia necropolis.

Next to him, the researchers found a large terracotta vessel, which he is assumed to have used as protection while fleeing the erupting volcano almost 2,000 years ago.

It is believed that the man attempted to flee to the coast during the eruption but was killed by a rain of volcanic rock. The vessel found next to the skeleton showed clear signs of breakage. Researchers also found a small oil lamp with him, which he probably used to find his way in poor visibility, as well as bronze coins.

The city at the foot of Vesuvius was covered by ash, mud and lava in 79 AD after several volcanic eruptions. The preserved remains of death and devastation provide insight into life at that time to this day.

However, the Archaeological Park believes AI reconstructions like this could help bring archaeological research to life for non-specialist audiences.

The park’s director, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, said "when used correctly, AI can contribute to a renewal of classical studies by telling the story of the classical world in a more immersive way."

Pompeii was rediscovered in the 18th century and archaeologists continue to make spectacular discoveries at the site. Today, the park is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy.

In 2024, the park introduced a 20,000 daily visitor limit aimed at controlling the masses of visitors, which have reached a record 4 million. Apart from the visitor cap, the park introduced personalized tickets.

Phoenix Tailings buys AI developer Machinery Partner in push for automation

Reuters | May 7, 2026 |

Credit: Phoenix Tailings | LinkedIn

Phoenix Tailings, the rare earths processing startup backed by BMW and Sumitomo, has bought artificial intelligence developer Machinery Partner as part of a push to automate its operations.

Rare earths processing can be complex. Machinery Partner’s AI technology is expected to boost Phoenix’s minerals processing by 30% annually in part by anticipating equipment failure.

Financial terms of the deal, which closed April 3, were not disclosed.

Machinery Partner’s CEO, Clement Cazalot, has become Phoenix’s chief operating officer. Cazalot has been on Phoenix’s board since 2019.

Phoenix says it expects Machinery Partner’s technology to eventually allow its processing operations to be fully automated. The technology is already in use at hundreds of US sites, the company said.

Phoenix will use the AI tech at rare earths processing facility in Exeter, New Hampshire.

(By Ernest Scheyder)

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