It’s owned by Pollenize, a social enterprise that uses data analysis to diagnose and treat deficiencies in honeybees. With habitat loss, climate change, agrochemicals, and a new wave of invasive hornets hounding Britain’s bee colonies, its founders believe artificial intelligence could be an unlikely trump card. When childhood friends Matthew Elmes and Owen Finnie cofounded Pollenize in 2018, AI was not part of the plan.
This is the rationale behind Pollenize’s latest project—a network of AI-camera bait stations that can detect and track Asian hornets. “All you need is a breeze from the southeast for hornets to hitch a lift across the water,” says Alastair Christie, an invasive species expert from Jersey, in the Channel Islands. “Queens can hibernate on the underside of a pallet and in all sorts of nooks and crannies, or get stuck in someone’s car or horse box.