How AI Is Connecting People With Nature
I didn’t notice the scarlet tanager until the alert appeared on my phone: “Merlin heard a new bird!”
Despite its brilliant plumage—jet-black wings on a crimson body—the songbird can be a hard one to spot in a forest because it prefers to stay high in the canopy. To an untrained ear, it sounds a little like a robin. But the free Merlin Bird ID app used artificial intelligence to analyze my phone’s live sound recording and detected it was likely nearby. I paused my hike, quietly scanned the treetops, saw the bird as it kept singing, and clicked a button to add the species to my growing “life list.” Digital confetti burst on my screen.
Like a real-world version of Pokémon Go, a gotta-catch-'em-all drive to add to my Merlin list has helped me find a great kiskadee in Mexico and a rusty-cheeked scimitar-babbler in the Himalayas. But sometimes the greatest revelations are close to home, as more AI nature app users are starting to discover.
From Birdwatchers to TikTok Stars
The audience for these apps is rapidly changing. “Our stereotypical demographic five years ago would have been retired people and already-avid birders,” said Drew Weber, the Merlin app’s manager from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Now we’re seeing a lot of 20-and-30-year-olds posting stuff on their TikTok or Instagram.”
This new generation of users is sharing their excitement online. “Am I a bird person now? Am I a bird person now?” exclaims one incredulous TikTok user whose Merlin app detected a tufted titmouse, a cardinal, and a Carolina wren within seconds. Another video shows Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold gushing about the technology.
Of course, the app isn’t always perfect. Mockingbirds, famous for mimicking other bird sounds, can sometimes confuse the AI. And as Weber notes, other noises can also interfere. “Low-frequency sounds can be challenging because there’s other low frequencies, like cars driving past, that can trick it,” he said. So was that really a great horned owl you recorded from your window? Maybe, maybe not.
More Than Just Birds The Rise of Citizen Science
AI nature apps aren't just for the birds. Built-in computer vision technology on newer iPhones and Android devices makes it easier than ever to identify plants and other creatures. Simply take a photo, and your phone can suggest the species.
For a more immersive community and citizen science experience, however, apps like Merlin and the image-based iNaturalist are unmatched. Every observation submitted to these platforms is potentially helping with conservation research as animal extinctions and biodiversity loss accelerate.
Scott Loarie, iNaturalist’s executive director, sees someone’s urge to identify a backyard plant as just the start. “Our strategy is really building this community of really passionate, engaged nature stewards who are not only learning and sharing knowledge about nature, but they’re actually huge engines for creating biodiversity data and conservation action,” Loarie said.
If you submit an incorrect ID suggested by iNaturalist’s AI, someone with real expertise will often politely correct you. Once there’s enough community consensus, you’ll be notified that your observation has made it to “research grade.”
A Word of Caution Foraging and Identification
On a search for huckleberry in the Wyoming wilderness, I kept iNaturalist handy. While I struggled to find that specific bush, the app helped me discover other fruits: a serviceberry known as the saskatoon, the raspberry-like thimbleberry, and the vibrant orange berries of the Greene’s mountain-ash. After cross-checking with other resources, I tasted them. The first two were sweet, the last bitter.
This highlights an important warning. “You should never trust any sort of automatic ID or a stranger on the internet for something as important as edible plants,” Loarie said. “So, I definitely don’t want to endorse that. But I’d certainly endorse getting to know plants and animals.”
One common thread in the social media videos is the joy of discovering the variety of wildlife that lives right among us. I’ve found these apps particularly helpful for identifying things to avoid, like poison ivy, and things to destroy, like the nymph of the invasive spotted lanternfly that’s now infesting at least 19 U.S. states. By paying a little more attention with the help of AI, we can unlock a hidden world on our everyday trails.
