Meet Anika Puri, 17, who built $300 AI tool to spot elephant poachers and won $25,000

When darkness settles over a wildlife reserve, spotting a poacher from hundreds of feet above the ground can be a difficult task, even with thermal imaging technology. For park rangers working to protect endangered animals, a missed movement could have serious consequences. Anika Puri, an Indian-American student from Chappaqua, New York, set out to tackle this challenge with an unlikely combination of artificial intelligence, drone technology and a closer look at how humans and animals move. According to a report by the Society for Science, her project, ElSa, short for Elephant-Savior, developed a low-cost system designed to identify potential poachers in nighttime drone footage. The innovation earned Puri a $25,000 scholarship as a 2022 Davidson Fellow, recognising her work in engineering and its potential application to wildlife conservation.