Talk to your plants? Now the first AI-powered garden will allow them to talk back
Hardcore gardeners sometimes, when no one else is listening, talk quietly to their prize blooms. But at next year’s Chelsea flower show, visitors will be encouraged to have a chat with its first ever AI-powered garden.
The garden designer Tom Massey has partnered with Microsoft to create the Avanade “intelligent” garden. Sensors in the soil are partnered with an AI trained on Royal Horticultural Society plant data and gardening advice, meaning visitors can ask the garden: “How are you?”
As well as making gardening easier and more fun, Massey said it could have wider applications. The wireless sensors hidden in the soil measure moisture, nutrient levels, acidity and alkalinity. These will connect to a computer in a pavilion in the garden, which people will be able to consult to see how the garden is doing.
“It’s supposed to be interactive,” Massey said. “It’s supposed to be showcasing this really kind of new emerging technology, and also saving resources.”
