UNSW’s RipEye AI Tool to Be Trialled by Surf Lifesavers at NSW Beaches This Summer

Surf lifesavers at some New South Wales beaches will trial an artificial intelligence tool that spots rip currents in photographs this summer, ABC News reported on November 11. RipEye was developed by researchers at the University of New South Wales and learns from thousands of beach photos annotated by an expert team. A beachgoer can photograph the surf with a mobile phone and the app marks where potential rips are. The researchers say it correctly identifies a rip about 80 per cent of the time.

Rips remain the country’s deadliest coastal hazard. Surf Life Saving Australia’s latest National Drowning Report found that almost half of the 66 beach drowning deaths between July 2025 and July 2026 were partly due to rip currents. Senior researcher and AI expert Mandana Ghanavati said the team hopes the tool will help people spot rips and make safer decisions about where to swim. RipEye works in 11 languages and was designed with higher-risk groups in mind, including young men, culturally and linguistically diverse communities and international visitors.

What it means in practice

Surf Life Saving Australia national research manager Jaz Lawes said the organisation wants to use the app to train lifesavers and teach beach safety to the public, and is still deciding which surf clubs will take part. The aim is to understand how it fits into patrols, including where flags are placed. Lawes said the organisation’s research shows that while one in two Australians are confident they can spot a rip, only one in seven can actually do it. RipEye also has a game mode in which users guess where the rip is on sample photos and compare their answers with the AI’s.

Lawes said the tool could also reach regional inland communities through Surf Life Saving NSW’s Beach to Bush program, and the organisation has recently trialled AI cameras meant to prevent accidents at rock fishing spots at Sydney’s Little Bay and at Kiama. For UNSW, whose academics have also proposed a ‘Copyright Plus’ scheme for artists and which rolled out ChatGPT Edu campus-wide, RipEye is a public-facing research project. What to watch is which clubs join the trial, whether patrols keep using it after summer, and how its accuracy holds up on unfamiliar beaches and in poor light.