Endangered species can be difficult to study, as they are elusive, and the very act of observing them can disrupt their lives. Now, scientists can take a closer look at endangered species by studying AI-generated 3D representations of them.

Sifei Liu, a senior research scientist at NVIDIA, has worked with her team to create an algorithm that can reconstruct 3D meshes — graphics models used to display the edges, vertices and overall shape of an object — from 2D inputs like images and videos.

Liu spoke with NVIDIA AI Podcast host Noah Kravitz about her team’s project, called Online Adaptation for Consistent Mesh Reconstruction in the Wild. Liu and her team have presented the project at various prominent conferences, including NeurIPS 2020.