If a tree could talk, what would it say? And what would you say to it?
Those questions form the basis for the 'Talking Tree' - an innovative technology project that uses environmental sensors and AI to give trees 'a voice'.
The project was brought to Trinity College Dublin this week, where people were invited to engage in a back-and-forth conversation with a 200-year-old London Plane tree.
"We can learn the tree's feelings - for lack of a better word - over time," Evan Greally, Head of Tech & Innovation at Dublin agency Droga5 told RTÉ News.
The project works by connecting sensors to the tree to measure such things as its bioelectrical signals, soil moisture, soil pH, air temperature and humidity, sunlight, air quality and time of day.
This data is then fed into an AI large language model which converts it into understandable human language.
The primary scientific objective is to explore how measurable environmental stressors - linked to climate change - correlate with changes in a tree’s bioelectrical activity.
"Where we want to go with the project is, can we use this in conservation? Can we detect wildfires before they go out of hand by talking to nature and connecting ourselves in this way?" Mr Greally explained.
AI is often criticised for its environmental footprint, with the International Energy Agency forecasting that data centres could account for nearly 35% of Ireland’s energy use by 2026.
This contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, while other environmental impacts include water consumption, electronic waste, and the mining of rare earth minerals for hardware production.
However, the team behind 'The Talking Tree' say they are taking raw data and turning it into something that helps people understand a changing world "as sustainably as possible".
"We’re not using any cloud resources to run this or any geo-intense stuff or sources. Everything is hosted locally on the device. The large language model, the text to speech, the speech to text, it all happens locally," Mr Greally explained.
"It’s an AI brain that’s not connected to the internet in any way, that allows the tree to speak," he added.
The project, which is a collaboration between Droga5 and UK-based Agency for Nature, also aims to encourage people to connect with nature.
At the TCD installation, people described the experience of speaking with a tree as "insightful" and "emotional".
"It was a really nice experience, I wasn’t expecting to be able to do this ever," first year student Anna Petre said.
"I was missing the connection with nature in general and this really helped me feel more connected."
International student Ruby Rogers said: "This will make me come back to talk to the tree again when it doesn’t have the capacity to talk back to me."
As a technologist, Mr Greally says he is driven to "drive emerging technology forward and give it a useful use case in the world" as he has seen the damage AI and technology can do.
"Something like this helps us to slow down and it’s interesting because technology isn’t good or bad, it’s how we use it," she said.
