Deep-sea AI tool powers up marine research, poised for global use

A deep-sea exploration AI model developed by a collaborative team, led by Chinese scientists, was launched this week as part of a major international scientific project, which is expected to advance global understanding and governance of the deep ocean.

The model DePTH-GPT integrates AI technologies -- including deep learning, large language models, computer vision and knowledge reasoning, to process data such as video footage, topography, hydrodynamics, sediment and bioacoustics.

It is poised to advance deep-sea research from traditional qualitative analysis toward an intelligent, interpretable and predictive stage.

The AI model has already established an intelligent cognitive system for a deep-sea seamount and a hydrothermal vent field, according to the Second Institute of Oceanography under the Ministry of Natural Resources.

DePTH-GPT is an outcome of the Digital DEPTH project, which focuses on deep-sea habitats and was launched under the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

In the future, the model will be made available to global research institutions and international organizations to build intelligent cognitive systems that encompass various deep-sea habitats, like seamounts, hydrothermal vents, abyssal plains and continental slopes.