Ben Williams headshot

Ben Williams Ph.D

3D World models for environmental monitoring

Encode: AI for Science fellow with Pillar VC at Imperial College London

Reef Patch Demo - Interactive 3D reconstruction

Interactive 3D twin: Click to try it out!

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Current work

I strongly believe two things. Firstly, AI agents will one day run entire companies, operate the infrastructure of cities, lead scientific discovery, and more. Second, digital twins and spatial intelligence will allow us to one day map and monitor the entire planet. However, whilst other industries move to rapidly adopt these technologies, the environmental sector will lag behind. My current research is focused on bringing the language capabilities of AI agents into digital twins of our natural world. I believe this tech holds the secret to optimised sustainable management of our entire biosphere.

Watch my TEDx London talk

TEDx London talk - How AI is helping transform coral reef conservation

Background

I hold a PhD from University College London, where I focused on developing machine-learning models to monitor coral reef restoration and detect illegal bomb fishing using acoustic recordings. I worked closely with industry giant Mars who lead the world's largest coral reef restoration programme (buildingcoral.com). I also completed a PhD Researcher position at Google DeepMind. I have operated in this field since 2019, developing my machine-learning skill set and completing extensive fieldwork with stakeholders across the globe, including >300 scientific dives and 18 months on expedition.

Interactive Demos

Explore interactive 3D reconstructions built with Gaussian Splatting. Click to launch each demo.

Coral Reef Restoration Demo - Interactive 3D reconstruction

Coral Reef Restoration

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Redwood Wildfire Aftermath Demo - Interactive 3D reconstruction

Redwood Wildfire Aftermath

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Contact