This is actually a very cool application. Not one that I will ever use, but nevertheless, pretty cool:
There’s a moment, if you spend any time with the Merlin Bird ID app, that feels like a magic trick. You hold up your phone, tap the microphone, and birdsong that was previously just pleasant background noise starts resolving into names. The app converts sound into a live spectrogram and tags individual species as they vocalize, even when several are singing at once.
Naturalist Drew Monkman captured the experience nicely last November. On a quiet October morning at a provincial park in Ontario, his ears picked up only the chip notes of yellow-rumped warblers. Merlin, listening alongside him, surfaced white-throated sparrow, golden-crowned kinglet, brown creeper, and then, to his surprise, scarlet tanager. He cupped his ears, listened harder, and there it was: a faint chik-brr he’d never have caught unaided. Binoculars confirmed it.
My own AI use is getting more sophisticated, as I’ve upgraded my translation process into a pipeline with repetitive quality control checks that just kicked out a new translation of Natsume Soseki that rated 6 points higher than any of the traditional translations. They still can’t compete with William Weaver or Jay Rubin, of course, but they’re better than just about everyone else.