Comment by shevy-java
Comment by shevy-java 8 hours ago
The article is strange. And, also not convincing.
There is still field work that happens. AI can not replace that. You'd need to literally simulate the whole world before AI can even get close to gather all data obtainable here. For instance, on a given ant hill: which plant species will be more prevalent there? (For those not knowing a lot about ants: some ant species carry specific plants or defend plants against invaders. The most usual example is for leaf-cutting ants, but there are many additional examples, and for various reasons you will also find different plant species to be more prevalent close to an ant hill in a forest area, than other plant species.) AI can steal existing data, but there is no way it can gather real data UNLESS you are able to monitor this. This is possible via machines, e. g. drones, but AI does not understand what it is doing and even with instructions you still may be able to just hallucinate data. So perhaps one day this may all be fully automated (sensor systems can do all humans can do too, of course), but right now this is simply not the case. And this is just one example for many more.
Ants also farm other insects.
For example often if you have a blackfly infestation, the first sign is often a steady stream of ants - they are feeding of the honeydew created by the blackfly, they protect the blackfly from predators like ladybird larvae, and they will even transfer the blackfly to new plants.
Once I knew this I found the best way to tackle blackfly was not to go after the blackfly, but distract the ants - a bit of jam works a treat.
Though you could then argue the ant's have then moved on, from farming, to a protection racket.