World’s Last Male Northern White Rhino Brought Back To Life Using AI

London's Royal Academy of Arts roped in artists, designers and architects to address the ongoing climate crisis in its exhibition, "Eco-Visionaries: Confronting a planet in a state of emergency". London-based artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg unveiled a life-size digital replica of a northern white male rhino. Sudan, the last rhino of his kind in the world, was euthanized in March 2018 in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, owing to age-related poor health.

Ginsberg first learned of 45-year-old Sudan’s death in a Twitter post which motivated her to bring him back to life using artificial intelligence (AI). Ginsberg used zoo archive footage and computer models as well as important research from Google-acquired AI firm Deepmind create the almost 16 feet 4 inches (5 meters) projection.

Sudan is now "basically a rhino in a box" manifesting signs of a living creature that learns from its environment, CNN quoted Ginsberg.

"Why can't we look after what we have? These stories are so urgent. We need to change our behavior. And it's up to us to tell governments," she told CNN. "We're not doing well."

In the six-minute long video installation, viewers can hear the rhino's snorts and sense his bulk and weight. The rhino may also make brief eye-contacts with visitors.

"As the artificial rhino habituates to its space, its form and sound toggle from pixilation to lifelike — reminding the viewer that this living, breathing rhino, coming to life without its natural context, is entirely artificial," the installation's description states.

"Eco-Visionaries" is a collaboration between five museums, including Fundação EDP/MAAT, Bildmuseet, HeK and LABoral, featuring 21 participants.