Close Menu
    Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram X (Twitter)
    Blue Tech Wave Media
    Facebook LinkedIn YouTube Instagram X (Twitter)
    • Home
    • Leadership Alliance
    • Exclusives
    • Internet Governance
      • Regulation
      • Governance Bodies
      • Emerging Tech
    • IT Infrastructure
      • Networking
      • Cloud
      • Data Centres
    • Company Stories
      • Profiles
      • Startups
      • Tech Titans
      • Partner Content
    • Others
      • Fintech
        • Blockchain
        • Payments
        • Regulation
      • Tech Trends
        • AI
        • AR/VR
        • IoT
      • Video / Podcast
    Blue Tech Wave Media
    Home » AI helping find a partner for ‘world’s loneliest plant’
    AI

    AI helping find a partner for ‘world’s loneliest plant’

    By Audrey HuangMay 29, 2024Updated:May 30, 2024No Comments2 Mins Read
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email
    • Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to find a female partner for an endangered male plant, which is described as the world’s loneliest plant.
    • Although there is only one male plant found, no comprehensive exploration has been conducted to determine if a female plant could exist before.
    • The species is still grown and propagated at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

    AI is adopted in search of a female partner for an endangered male plant, known as the world’s loneliest, as no thorough investigation has been conducted in the forest in South Africa.

    AI: searching for a female counterpart

    Led by the University of Southampton, a research project is searching thousands of acres of forest in South Africa, where the only known Encephalartos woodii (E. woodii), an ancient species that predates the dinosaurs and is believed to be among the most endangered organisms on the planet, was ever found. Currently, all of the existing members of the species are male clones of the only known E. woodii, and are unable to naturally reproduce.

    Also read: Tamil Nadu: These elephants are dying on rail tracks – can AI save them? (bbc.com)

    Also read: Google’s AI overview product faces criticism over unusual responses

    Challenges and hopes

    Discovered in the Ngoye Forest in 1895, the E. woodie, which is still grown propagated at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, in London, has found no female partner to this day, and all subsequent propagated samples are male clones. However, no comprehensive exploration has been conducted to determine if a female plant could exist. “With the AI, we are using an image recognition algorithm in order to recognise plants by shape”, said Dr. Ciniti, research fellow at the University of Southampton, “We generated images of plants and put them in different ecological settings, to train the model to recognise them.”

    AI University of Southampton
    Audrey Huang

    Audrey Huang is an intern news reporter at Blue Tech Wave. She is interested in AI and startup stories. Send tips to a.huang@btw.media.

    Related Posts

    T-Mobile drops DEI programmes as FCC scrutiny intensifies

    July 14, 2025

    Britain and France back Eutelsat with $1.65B to rival Starlink

    July 14, 2025

    Hong Kong boosts rural 5G with $25M rollout

    July 14, 2025
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    CATEGORIES
    Archives
    • July 2025
    • June 2025
    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • October 2024
    • September 2024
    • August 2024
    • July 2024
    • June 2024
    • May 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • August 2023
    • July 2023

    Blue Tech Wave (BTW.Media) is a future-facing tech media brand delivering sharp insights, trendspotting, and bold storytelling across digital, social, and video. We translate complexity into clarity—so you’re always ahead of the curve.

    BTW
    • About BTW
    • Contact Us
    • Join Our Team
    TERMS
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Use
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.