Nathan Elias, now the 17-year-old founder of the advanced app InvasiveAI, was in fifth grade when he first realized the potential of an algorithm to solve real-world problems. His own problem at the time? Mathematics homework.
Determined to avoid 50 boring multiplication problems, Elias used Python to create a program that could do this for him.
But that was just the beginning.
As a freshman in high school, Elias encountered another problem that needed a solution while visiting his grandfather’s rice farm in Kerala, India. Because the farm is located in Kuttanad, a city that lies below sea level, it is particularly vulnerable to rains or floods – a growing problem with the shift in monsoon seasons.
That’s exactly what happened on Elias’ trip that summer.
“The floods actually brought an invasive plant from the higher regions,” Elias . says businesskinda.com. “And that’s known as Giant Salvinia. My grandfather wasn’t able to identify that early enough, and as a result, that plant overpopulated the entire farm.”
Elias started learning more about invasive species and eventually discovered just how much trouble they cause worldwide – realizing that AI could be the answer.
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“But I realized that [if we could] identifying invasive species from an image and predicting where they are going, that would be powerful.”
Initially, Elias had the idea to create an app that would allow users to identify an invasive species with just a photo. But it soon became clear that InvasiveAI could not compete in scale with other platforms such as iNaturalist. He considered what else he could do and finally landed on geospatial forecasting.
“It took me a while to figure out which parts of AI I was using because there are so many different aspects,” Elias says. “But I realized that [if we could] identifying invasive species from an image and predicting where they are going would be powerful. That’s how I started experimenting with machine learning models.”
But AI models need a dataset to take off and learn over time “just like the human brain,” so Elias had to take on the challenge of essentially building an invasive species database from scratch.
Plus, having just a handful of invasive species in the database wouldn’t have the impact Elias wanted to make. He knew he needed at least a few hundred—plus thousands of images for a clean, accurate model.
“I had to scrape all these images using a technique called web scraping,” Elias explains. “I made my own dataset and it took a while because you have to sort each image by species.”
Working out that geospatial forecast also took a lot of time and effort, because it’s not just coordinate-based: it also takes into account factors such as climate and competition between invasive species and clusters.
Image Credit: Courtesy of InvasiveAI
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“I don’t want a farmer to identify an invasive species and then have no idea how to act against it.”
Along the way, Elias also met with the Texas Master Naturalist program to determine the specific impact of invasive species and the specific problems to be solved. You need to fully understand the problem to figure out what to do: “Live in the problem when you find a solution,” Elias says.
Elias is now working to build out the connection potential of the app – giving people the tools they need to effectively get rid of invasive species. It’s not as simple as recommending a one-size-fits-all pesticide; there is too wide a range of invasive species, including plants, animals, insects and pathogens.
“I don’t want a farmer to identify an invasive species and then have no idea how to act against it,” Elias says. “That’s about the same as having no tools at all. Farmers can certainly get rid of invasives on their own, but if they don’t do it right — if they don’t take care — the invasive species can come back.”
Connecting farmers with a local university or removal group that has experience in eradicating an invasive species will ensure that the problem remains resolved.
So far, InvasiveAI’s progress speaks for itself: The app has prevented and projected more than 10,000 cases of invasive species growth in all 50 states.
Elias has received funding and recognition from companies and organizations such as Google, USAID, National Geographic and NASA. He has also published his work in the scientific community and has collaborated with researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Image Credit: Courtesy of InvasiveAI
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“I really enjoy it – it’s a passion of mine.”
Founder is just one of Elias’ current positions – he’s also still a high school student, completing his senior year at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA), a public magnet school in Austin, Texas with an advanced curriculum. As a student at LASA, Elias has honed his time management skills, he says, noting that he uses every spare moment to continue his work on InvasiveAI.
“Summer, winter break, I’m just developing this app and spend a lot of time on it,” Elias explains. “But I really enjoy it – it’s a passion of mine. When you like something, you do it automatically. That’s how it was for me.”
What’s next for Elias once he graduates from high school? It’s a question he gets a lot.
“And I don’t have a concrete plan,” Elias says. “But what I always say is that I’m looking for a place that cares about this idea that I have, because it’s a big part of what I did in high school — it’s almost like going to a debate club every day.” go, but I’ve been working on this app.
“This is something I care about,” he continues. “It’s a passion of mine. [So I’m looking for a] CS program that can provide me with the skills to further develop this, to create a better network. It doesn’t matter where it is, as long as I can expand this app.”
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