Dr Vanessa Pirotta
Dr Vanessa Pirotta is one of Australia’s most renowned wildlife scientists, pioneering innovative technologies to transform wildlife conservation across marine (whale snot drones) and terrestrial environments (AI to detect illegal wildlife trafficking). A globally recognised science communicator, she is driven by a passion for making science accessible, influential, and inclusive- earning recognition as one of the Australian Financial Review’s Top 100 Women of Influence and Science & Technology Australia’s Superstars of STEM. Vanessa leads impactful, cross-generational research that empowers communities through wildlife, including the Tongan Whale Tourism Project in the Kingdom of Tonga and the creation of the Wild Sydney Harbour citizen science program collaborating with First Nations Gamay Rangers to unite Indigenous Knowledge with cutting-edge science.
Presenting as part of Big Blue Ideas
Can AI Talk Whale?
Thursday 19 February | 6.30pm
From tracking sharks to scanning the ocean floor, artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we explore, protect and manage the sea—but could it go even further? Like... decoding whale language?
This talk gets into the wild world of ocean AI—where neural networks meet coral reefs.
Can it really help us restore ecosystems, outsmart overfishing and clean up pollution, or are we handing too much power to the algorithm?
