"Like so many applications of AI, this new power is likely to be a double-edged sword: It may help people identify the locations of old snapshots from relatives, or allow field biologists to conduct rapid surveys of entire regions for invasive plant species, to name but a few of many likely beneficial applications.
“But it also could be used to expose information about individuals that they never intended to share, says Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union who studies technology. Stanley worries that similar technology, which he feels will almost certainly become widely available, could be used for government surveillance, corporate tracking or even stalking.”
To get that kind of accuracy from a student project with such a small sample set is pretty remarkable and pretty frightening. Yes, there are people who are good at this, but (1) this AI just beat one of the most skilled humans and (2) having it in an AI brings the capability to anyone, regardless of their motives.
Plus, with an AI you can incorporate more heuristics than any human could reasonably master. The article mentions types of foliage, which is a good example. An AI could incorporate thousands of things like that easily. Seems like a tool that’s ripe for abuse, but I don’t know what you could do about it.