Could AI Help Clean Up the Invisible Waste in Our Oceans?

Artificial intelligence may be the key to cleaning up “ghost nets” from Earth’s oceans.

“GhostNetZero is a powerful example of how AI can transform how we tackle environmental challenges,” says Thomas Knüwer, chief creative officer at Accenture Song ASG, a tech-powered creative group.

Ghost nets are lost fishing gear that have ended up in the ocean, posing a danger to marine life. An estimated 50,000 tons of lost fishing nets end up in the sea yearly, making up about 30 percent of all marine plastic waste and leading to microplastic pollution. “[Ghost nets] are invisible under the water surface and their detection is complex,” explains Gabriele Dederer, a research diver and project manager for nonprofit WWF Germany, who, alongside Microsoft AI for Good Lab and Accenture Song, has created a platform that can analyze sonar images and mark where ghost nets could likely be found. So far, the AI technology has achieved a 90 percent accuracy rate, and the nonprofit has already recovered 26 tons of ghost net from the Baltic Sea.