Project Gaia

Why in news?

The European Central Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, the Bank of Spain, and the Bundesbank of Germany introduced Project Gaia.

About

• Project Gaia aims to help analysts search corporate climate-related disclosures and extract data quickly and efficiently using artificial intelligence (AI).
• The Project integrated Large Language Models (LLMs) into an application and leveraged it for data extraction.

Large Language Models (LLMs)

• A large language model (LLM) is a type of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that uses deep learning techniques and massively large data sets to understand, summarize, generate and predict new content.
• Deep learning involves the probabilistic analysis of unstructured data, which eventually enables the deep learning model to recognize distinctions between pieces of content without human intervention.

Great Indian Bustard

Why in news?

• The Supreme Court constituted an expert committee to balance the conservation and protection of the Great Indian Bustard bird population.

About

• Scientific Name: Ardeotis nigriceps
• Appearance: The great Indian bustard can easily be distinguished by its black crown on the forehead contrasting with the pale neck and head.
• The body is brownish and the wings are marked with black, brown and grey.
• Diet: They feed on grass seeds, insects like grasshoppers and beetles, and sometimes even small rodents and reptiles.
• Habitat: Flat open landscapes with minimal visual obstruction and disturbance, therefore adapt well in grasslands.
• Distribution: Its population is confined mostly to Rajasthan and Gujarat. Small population occur in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Threats

• Poaching outside Protected Areas,
• Collisions with high tension electric wires, fast moving vehicles and free-ranging dogs in villages,
• Habitat loss.

Conservation Status

• Listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972,
• Appendix I of CITES,
• Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.