Jill Tarter says AI will boost SETI's hunt for extraterrestrial life

Jill Tarter, the 82‑year‑old founder and first employee of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI), told participants at Rio Innovation Week that artificial intelligence, and eventually artificial general intelligence, will become a key partner in the search for alien life. She explained that SETI’s array of 6‑metre radar dishes operates continuously and is being upgraded with an autonomous telescope that will point and collect data under machine control, allowing multiple scientific experiments to run simultaneously.

Tarter emphasized that AI will help process the enormous volume of sky data without rendering humans irrelevant, noting, “I think machines will understand that it is humans who make the world interesting.” She also recalled her role as the inspiration for the fictional astronomer Ellie Arroway in the film "Contact."