Rip current-detecting AI tool to be trialled at NSW beaches

Résumé détaillé

UNSW researchers say the tool can pick out a rip in a photograph of a beach, and hope it can be used to help save lives.

An AI tool that can identify rips at beaches based on photographs will be trialled at NSW beaches this summer.

RipEye also includes an educational game where users guess where a rip is based on photos of beaches.

Surf Life Saving is deciding which NSW surf clubs to roll the trial out to for this summer.

Surf lifesavers at some New South Wales beaches will trial a rip-detecting AI tool this summer to tackle Australia's most deadly beach hazard.

The RipEye tool, developed by researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), can spot a potential rip by analysing thousands of photos of various beaches annotated by an expert team.

Almost half of the 66 beach drowning deaths between July 2025 and July 2026 were partially due to rip currents, according to Surf Life Saving Australia's most recent National Drowning Report.

"We are hopeful that this technology can help people to spot the rip and raise their own awareness about how to spot the rip and hopefully make a safer decision for swimming," senior researcher and AI expert Mandana Ghanavati said.

"A beachgoer can take a picture of the surf using their own mobile phone and it will show them where the potential rip currents are."

The researchers said it could correctly identify a rip 80 per cent of the time.

Début de l'article, extrait de ABC Science. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.