STUTTGART – Claims made about potential national security implications of a project exploring the use of artificial intelligence and satellite imagery to monitor cotton crops have been labelled as “false” by Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), one of the initiative's founding partners.
The scheme, run in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and AI specialist Marple, has become the subject of speculation in the Indian media regarding whether it poses a risk to sensitive data.
While GOTS has been robust in its rebuttal of the claims, a spokesperson for the organisation told Ecotextile News it welcomes “constructive dialogue” to allay any worries based on misunderstandings of the project.
Satellite monitoring is integral to the work undertaken by several government-affiliated bodies in India, with real-time assessments of water levels in drought-prone regions among the scientific purposes.
