In the spotlight: presentation of ASMSpotter at AMLD Africa

Last week, we were honored to be invited to the Applied Machine Learning Days (AMLD) Africa, organized by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne. In contrast to last years AMLD, where our machine learning scientist William Clemens gave a talk, this years edition focussed on machine learning solutions designed to tackle problems on the African continent as well as introducing and connecting innovators from there.

Moritz Besser, machine learning consultant at dida, introduced the audience to the ASMSpotter, which detects informal artisanal mining (ASM) sites on satellite imagery using artificial intelligence. As ASM is a rising problem on the continent, the tool may help to formalize new sites and therefore make minerals sourcing ecologically and socially more sustainable.