# 17. Will palaeontologists go extinct? AI & the future of palaeo

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fossil-files-7375611/17-will-palaeontologists-go-extinct-ai-the-future-of-palaeo
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fossil-files-7375611/17-will-palaeontologists-go-extinct-ai-the-future-of-palaeo.md
Podcast: [The Fossil Files](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fossil-files-7375611)
Published: 2025-12-02T07:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://a94020de-22e2-432b-af22-019fdb3026ee.libsyn.com/will-palaeontologists-go-extinct-ai-the-future-of-palaeo
Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/a94020de-22e2-432b-af22-019fdb3026ee/episode_17_AI_edited_28_11_2025_13.42_desript.m4a?dest-id=5062010
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fossil-files-7375611/episodes/17-will-palaeontologists-go-extinct-ai-the-future-of-palaeo
Duration seconds: 2939

## Resource

Artificial Intelligence seems to be changing everything, everywhere, all at once. But how will the science of studying the very old be transformed by the technology of the new? In this episode Susie and Rob take a look at the risks and opportunities for palaeontology with the application of AI: palAIontology. Can we use AI to find, identify, and classify fossils? The paper's discussed this week are: "Artificial intelligence in paleontology" by Congyu Yu and colleagues published in Earth Science Reviews May 2024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104765 and "Early humans and the balance of power: Homo habilis as prey" by Marina Vegara-Riquelme and colleagues published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences in September 2025 https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.15321

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-fossil-files-7375611/episodes/17-will-palaeontologists-go-extinct-ai-the-future-of-palaeo/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-fossil-files-7375611/17-will-palaeontologists-go-extinct-ai-the-future-of-palaeo.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.