Researchers from Emory University have built an AI-powered touchscreen that rewards wild capuchin monkeys with banana slices, helping them study how they think, learn, and solve problems in their natural habitat. Emory University
You didn’t ask for an AI summary of your inbox or a chatbot in your camera app, but you got it anyway. The same thing is happening to the monkeys of Costa Rica’s Taboga Forest Reserve. According to a New York Times report, researchers have handed them a touchscreen system that uses artificial intelligence to study how wild capuchins think and learn without ever taking them out of their natural habitat.
Even monkeys can’t escape AI now
Unlike the AI features popping up across our apps, this one actually has a scientific purpose. The device, called CapuchinAI, is a portable testing station built by Emory University researchers. It combines a touchscreen, a webcam, and a 3D-printed food dispenser inside a wooden frame. Facial recognition software trained on images of Taboga’s resident capuchins identifies an approaching monkey and presents a simple challenge: touch the screen to earn a piece of dried banana.
According to the study,
