There are interesting and exciting opportunities for how AI/Machine Learning can help Indigenous people protect their homes
This is not anything unusual or unbelievable, but it is an interesting confluence of technology and those people who most care about protecting their corner of the environment. One example in the article:
One of the first AI-based Indigenous conservation projects, undertaken by Cornell University, was co-developed with the Coral Gardeners, from Mo’orea, French Polynesia. Founded in 2017, this Indigenous group cultivates heat-resistant super corals and transplants them onto damaged parts of the reef. Cornell provides the software to track the sounds of the many organisms making their home here and, working also with the University of Hawaii, integrates them into a recording platform, ReefOS, a network of sensors and cameras collecting visual and acoustic data 24 hours a day. The AI-mediated soundscape tells the on-site respondents whether the reefs are starting to sound like healthy and stable reef systems, or whether additional restoration efforts are needed.
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Fairly incredible low-light image improvements thanks to adding raw camera data to image
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Congressman Adam Smith (D-WA) introduces the "The Saving Homes from Acquisition by Private Equity Act"
From the intro of the bill:
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to impose an excise tax on the acquisition of single-family homes by certain large investors.
From the Press Release by Congressman Adam's office:
“One of the greatest challenges we face as a country is housing affordability. Individuals and families across the country are struggling to afford to rent or buy homes. This has been exacerbated in recent years by a troubling increase in investors purchasing a significant percentage of existing single-family homes, squeezing out prospective homebuyers and harming future renters. We must curb this harmful trend before it further accelerates our nation’s housing crisis – that’s exactly what the SHAPE Act will do. Folks in our communities should not have to compete with large institutional investors and private equity firms when they go to buy a home, and renters should not be subjected to the harmful practices by these investor class landlords that want to wring the value out of each house. My bill will deter this problematic trend that is damaging the housing market, consumers, and our communities.”
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