The magazine GEO and the Betc Fullsix agency have launched a project that combines Journalism, science and technology. Under the title of “Photography extinct speries”the initiative recreates in images five extinguished animal species because of human action. Through a methodology that integrates artificial intelligence, scientific advice and creative control, the campaign seeks to prevent these animals from also disappearing from collective memory.

The species represented are El Dodo, El Cuaga, Steller’s marine cow, the Tilacino and Lémur Koala. All of them have been visually rebuilt from historical drawings, skeletons, dissected specimens and other scientific documents. The work has had the collaboration of paleontologists, biologists and international experts such as Éric buffetaut (CNRS), Daryl Domning (Howard University), Stephen Sleightholme (International Thylacine Specimen Database) or Laurie Godfrey (University of Massachusetts), among others.

The recreation of these species has been possible thanks to Seemeer, A tool for generating images developed by Betc Fullsix and continue on pixels. Unlike other generative the AI solutions, from the agency they point out that Vermeer allows “A total process control, guaranteeing anatomical precision, originality and legal compliance”. The process included multiple iterations between Creative, journalists and scientists To ensure that each image reflects the most advanced state of available knowledge about the species represented.

“This is exactly the use we want to give to AI: a tool at the service of a creative project with a clear purpose. Here, we have put technology at the service of life and scientific truth,” Tiphaine du Plessis, president of Betc Fullsix, points out.

The project also marks an editorial milestone for GEO that, for the first time, publishes images generated with artificial intelligence In its pages. A decision motivated by the impossibility of visually representing extreme species and for the value that this technology can contribute when used with criteria.

“This project shows that, well used, artificial intelligence can contribute to an increased journalism, not impoverished.”explains Myrtille Delamarche, editor boss of GEO. “It has allowed us to address a story that we would not have been able to tell in a visual environment like ours.”

The initiative will culminate with the publication of a special number of GEO entitled “Fascinating Faune Sauvage”, which will be available in the kiosks as of August 6. The number includes a series of images treated as if they were wildlife photographs, accompanied by informative texts and historical contexts about each species.