Microsoft is counting fish near its undersea datacenter using AI

2 min. read

Published onAugust 27, 2018

published onAugust 27, 2018

Share this article

Read our disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report sustain the editorial teamRead more

Microsoft’s Project Natick made headlines in recent months with the company deploying a full-fledged data center in the North Sea. The ambitious project leverages AI to monitor Project Natick’s various equipment, but Microsoft is revealing today that the same AI is also being used tostudy the datacenter’s underwater environment.

Two cameras connected to the undersea datacenter are able currently being used to monitor aquatic life in real time, and you can even check the live feed on the Project Natick home page. Microsoft has created an object detection model to count all the fish passing in front of the cameras.

From the video stream, we observed that there are only a few types of aquatic life that come within view—fish, arrow worms, and rays,” the company explained on the Azure blog. “The limited number of animal categories allows us to choose a relatively light-weight object detection model which can be run on CPUs.”

For Microsoft, Project Natick is all about understanding the possibilities of deploying undersea datacenters worldwide, and with all the current talk about global/ocean warming, it’s still not clear if such a project actually makes sense. “Monitoring the environmental impact is an important topic, and AI can help make this process more scalable and automated,” the company said, without further detailing if the heat output of its undersea datacenter actually has an impact on its submarine environment.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time).

For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web.

Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they’re looking for.

User forum

0 messages

Sort by:LatestOldestMost Votes

Comment*

Name*

Email*

Commenting as.Not you?

Save information for future comments

Comment

Radu Tyrsina

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low#

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app#

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities#

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount#

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier#

Microsoft is counting fish near its undersea datacenter using AI#

With KB5043178 to Release Preview Channel, Microsoft advises Windows 11 users to plug in when the battery is low

Copilot in Outlook will generate personalized themes for you to customize the app

Microsoft will raise the price of its 365 Suite to include AI capabilities

Death Stranding Director’s Cut is now Xbox X|S at a huge discount

Outlook will let users create custom account icons so they can tell their accounts apart easier

Microsoft is counting fish near its undersea datacenter using AI