AI could help win ‘race against extinction’ of vital plants, say botanists

What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, AI could help win ‘race against extinction’ of vital plants, say botanists, Tech is helping to identify and save new specimens and could open ‘genomic goldmine’ of fungi data The rise of AI and digitisation could be a turning point in the “race against extinction” faced by botanists trying to identify and save vital plants before they vanish, according to a major report from Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. New technology is enabling scientists to track how flowering times have shifted by weeks around the world, rapidly identify new specimens and even get crucial genetic data from 180-year-old fungus specimens, potentially opening a “genomic goldmine”. Digitisation and online access to millions of specimens that were until now only accessible in archives is also producing new insights, especially in the global south. Continue reading…

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Technology file for readers following technology, science, product policy, markets, infrastructure, and the public consequences of innovation. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-06-16T06:00:48+00:00.

What to watch

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Source

Primary source: AI could help win ‘race against extinction’ of vital plants, say botanists via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.