AI Helps Rapidly Crack Yearlong Mystery in Alps

The search for the body of a hiker who vanished in Italy's Alps last September ended up being a remarkably quick one, thanks to artificial intelligence. The National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps tapped into drone technology and AI image analysis to locate the body of Nicola Ivaldo, a 64-year-old doctor from Liguria, nearly 11 months after he disappeared on Monviso, the range's highest peak. As Wired explains, a teamed armed with two drones took some 2,600 images of the roughly 450-acre search area over five hours on the morning of July 29.

A human review of each frame might have taken weeks or months. AI software managed to flag an unusual splash of red in the terrain of one photo that same afternoon: It was indeed Ivaldo's helmet, and a recovery effort commenced. He was found roughly 2,000 feet below the summit, at about 10,000 feet of elevation. CNSAS has been integrating shape- and color-recognition tech into mountain searches for about a year and a half, and veteran drone pilot Saverio Isola called this outcome a "team success." He noted the drone pilots leaned heavily on the know-how of four expert mountain rescuers. "It's a human achievement, but without technology, it would have been an impossible mission," said Isola.