AI in Your Garden: Free App Identifies Birds by Their Song

A free smartphone app is helping people worldwide identify birds by sound. The Merlin Bird ID app uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning. It recognizes the songs of more than 1,300 bird species. The app solves a common problem for beginners. Previously, people had to record birdsong and search online to find a match. This process was slow and difficult. Writer Natasha Walter experienced this. She tried to identify birds in her London garden. She even mistook song thrushes for common blackbirds. A friend recommended the Merlin app. Walter tried it and quickly identified the correct birds. She now calls the app "wonderful" and a "joy." "It brings you closer to the natural world," Walter says. She believes this technology is a positive use of AI. "This is what AI and machine-learning have been invented for. It’s the one good thing!"