AI controls animal behaviour using light-guided technology
The system targets individual animals using AI-driven light, manipulating one subject’s neurons without affecting neighbours.
Scientists at Nagoya University have developed an advanced AI system capable of identifying specific animal behaviours with over 90% accuracy and controlling the brain circuits that drive them in real-time across multiple species.
The system, named YORU (Your Optimal Recognition Utility), recognises entire behaviours from single video frames rather than tracking individual body parts, making it 30% faster than previous tools.
Researchers demonstrated the technology’s precision by combining it with optogenetics to silence a male fruit fly’s courtship song mid-performance, causing the unimpressed female to walk away.
The breakthrough lies in the system’s ability to target individual animals within social groups, so previous optogenetic methods illuminated entire laboratory chambers, affecting all subjects simultaneously.
YORU’s AI-driven light source can now track and manipulate a single subject’s neurons whilst its neighbours move freely nearby. The tool has proven its versatility across diverse species, successfully analysing food-sharing in ants, social orientation in zebrafish, and grooming patterns in mice.
Requiring minimal training data and no programming skills, YORU is available online for researchers worldwide studying the neural mechanisms underlying social interactions.
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