r/iNaturalist • u/Electronic_Fox2203 • 10h ago

New to the app. Can anyone explain what’s going on with my observation number?

11 Upvotes

When I go the check out my observations in the ‘me’ section, the number is a lot higher than on my profile. Does my profile only count research grade observations or something?

2 comments

r/iNaturalist • u/eco_celosia • 19h ago

How do you feel about Inaturalist using AI to analyze datasets?

0 Upvotes

Personally I'm against generative AI and obviously it doesn't belong on Inaturalist, as AI generated photos poison the data set. I think all the research grade posts having to be verified by a real human is absolutely crucial for vetting the data. It's one of the reasons I love this app.

But I watched an interview of the creator of inaturalist and he was talking about using AI to analyze the datasets to look for trends in geographical spread or population numbers or potentially new species/ invasive species.

And I don't know how to feel about it. My first reaction is I don't like it. I guess part of me wishes a real human would be responsible for that analysis. Like back in pre AI times. But maybe I am being naive.

What are your thoughts ?

17 comments

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r/iNaturalist

Welcome to r/iNaturalist! iNaturalist is a citizen science project and online social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed - all you have to do is observe! Any and all posts relating to iNaturalist and Seek welcome here.

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