Great and difficult question Lisa! I think, yes, we are adding to the problem. We have been already when ML was introduced as a solution to big data problems, and perhaps we have been long before that with things that I am not aware of. My guess would be that the conservation sector is too small to have a big influence, but probably that can be guessed for many sectors. So, I don't believe we are off the hook.

Today at the acoustics webinar we had yet another discussion that ended up with how much we are trying to achieve with how few means. AI and ML allow us ( or hopefully will in the nearby future ) to do a lot of data and analytical work - mostly recognizing animals and their behaviour in sensor data - that without these means would be unthinkable within the resources that are available.

These are just guesses and believes. I would like to know how the damage weighs up against what we can do with it for nature's benefit, but I would not know where to start.

The argument seems similar to that related to questions like 'should we step in airplanes for conservation and climate conferences?', 'Driving cars around in the field?', and even 'use all those electronics and batteries?'