Scientists hail AI ‘gamechanger’ as they track down bird feared lost since black summer bushfires

Researchers have paired artificial intelligence with audio recordings to track down the endangered eastern bristlebird which had not been seen nor heard in south-east Queensland since the black summer bushfires devastated its habitat. Photograph: Todd Burrows

The fact the eastern bristlebird had not been seen nor heard in south-east Queensland since its Gondwana rainforest home was ravaged in the black summer bushfires of 2019/20 was, in some ways, unsurprising.

For one, there are thought to have been fewer than 40 individual birds in its northern population.