New York teen Anika Puri builds ElSa AI against poaching
Anika Puri, a 17-year-old from New York, has built an artificial intelligence (AI) tool called ElSa (short for Elephant-Savior) that helps spot elephant poachers using nighttime drone footage.
Her system stands out because it can tell the difference between humans and animals with 90.9% accuracy in detecting humans, all for just $300.
For her creative solution, Anika received a $25,000 Davidson Fellowship scholarship.
ElSa uses ML on thermal video
ElSa uses machine learning to pick up patterns in thermal videos, making it much better at catching suspicious activity than older methods that rely on static images or tired human eyes.
Tested on real data from African national parks, ElSa hit a strong 90.9% accuracy rate.
This means even parks with tight budgets could have access to more affordable technology to help protect wildlife.