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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Dwayne Grant

‘You can’t teach most people to spot rips’: can AI stop Australia’s unpatrolled beach drownings?

Australia Rob Brander Josh Martin SLSA SLSNZ New South Wales
Pic of coastline from above and then a heat map version showing rips
Surf Life Saving New Zealand is developing a rip current identification tool underpinned by artificial intelligence and deep learning technologies. In Australia, where the swim-between-the-flags message is dominant, fewer than 5% of the 11,000 beaches are patrolled. Composite: Rip Current Survival


Whenever Adam Wooler steals a glance across the Tasman Sea, he can’t help but admire Australia’s surf lifesaving culture.

The head of coast safety and research at Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ) describes Australia as an “innovator worldwide”, and praises how ingrained the red and yellow flags have become in the nation’s psyche since being first pitched in the sand in 1935.

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