New digital portal empowers frontline investigators in the fight against wildlife cybercrime

(Hong Kong SAR, China, August 26, 2026) — A new AI-powered portal designed to detect illegal wildlife trade online has been unveiled, giving conservation and law enforcement professionals a powerful tool in the fight against wildlife cybercrime.

IFAW officially unveiled the AI Guardian of Endangered Species Portal today at the AI for Nature: How AI and Smart City Initiatives Can Unlock Green and Blue Transformation in the GBA and Across Asia event. As an AI-powered image identification platform, the portal is co-designed with Baidu to detect and disrupt illegal wildlife trade online.

“Illegal wildlife trade continues to evolve online, requiring more open, usable digital tools for front‑line responders to spot this cybercrime. By launching this dedicated AI Guardian Portal, we lower technical barriers and enable more stakeholders to leverage AI to combat wildlife cybercrime and safeguard biodiversity,” said Lionel Hachemin, IFAW Wildlife Crime Program Director.

Since its internal deployment in 2020, AI Guardian model trained by Baidu has helped screen over 500,000 images, identify more than 50,000 images of illegal wildlife products, and contributed to the removal of over 18,000 illegal posts from online platforms. The newly launched AI Guardian Portal puts this power directly into the hands of more wildlife cybercrime fighters. The new portal offers a user-friendly interface for image upload and species identification, supporting the recognition of 34 species of endangered wildlife, including both live animals and wildlife products, with an identification accuracy of 86.5%.

Trained on authoritative wildlife datasets and optimized for real conservation and law enforcement scenarios, the platform also prioritizes data privacy with zero local data retention. No images or results are stored after users exit the page. The portal is accessible both on desktop and mobile devices, enabling real‑time identification in the field. Access to the portal is currently by invitation only. Law enforcement officers, investigators, conservation practitioners, and researchers who are interested in using the platform are encouraged to contact IFAW directly to request access.

"At Baidu, we believe that technology should be a force for good. The AI Guardian Portal, built on Baidu’s ERNIE large model, demonstrates how advanced AI can be applied to real-world conservation challenges. We are proud to continue our partnership with IFAW and to see the portal evolve into a solution that empowers more people to protect wildlife in the digital age. Events like this AI for Nature workshop, bringing together innovators and conservation leaders right here in Hong Kong SAR, are exactly where meaningful collaborations take shape,” said Owen Zhang, Head of Technical Brand & Marketing, Baidu Group.

The launch of the AI Guardian Portal at the AI for Nature event underscores the critical role of cross-sector collaboration in tackling wildlife cybercrime. The portal embodies the workshop's core message: technology, when paired with purpose and partnership, can deliver tangible outcomes for nature — from data centers to field sites, from the Greater Bay Area to conservation fronts around the world.

ENDS 

Press Contacts:

IFAW China office
Sabrina Zhang
Senior Communications Manager
m:+86 13911116927
e: qzhang@ifaw.org