Aizip and SoftBank Corp. Partner to Bring AI to Aquaculture, Winning CES® 2025 Innovation Award

Nathan Francis
Nathan@aizip.ai

Aizip, Inc., in partnership with SoftBank Corp., today announced the successful demonstration of AI solutions for fish-farming applications, which earned a CES® 2025 Innovation Award recognizing their breakthrough technology. This collaboration reflects Aizip’s mission to deliver high-performance machine-learning solutions to the world, particularly in environments where traditional cloud-based AI systems face significant limitations. This joint effort has resulted in the successful demonstration of AI-powered fish counting and fish-net inspection for aquaculture.

While AI has gained widespread acceptance in many industries, the aquaculture sector has been slower to adopt these technologies. Monitoring fish populations and identifying net damage are critical for the efficient operation of fish farms, and these tasks have traditionally been performed by divers, which adds significant costs and risks to the process. The aquaculture industry presents unique challenges for AI-driven digital transformation. Frequent data collection and real-time AI analysis are required to monitor fish populations and detect net damage. However, ocean environments lack the reliable power sources and network connectivity required for operating traditional cloud-based AI systems or transmitting large volumes of visual data in real-time.

By combining SoftBank’s computer graphics (CG) simulations of fish-schooling behavior to automatically generate training data with Aizip’s compact AI technology, the two companies developed an efficient and highly accurate model optimized for real-time edge applications. This marks continued work from SoftBank to leverage advanced technologies for the benefit of society, and further establishes Aizip as a leader in the TinyML market.

The resulting AI model, capable of running on devices as compact as smartphones, is now readily accessible for fish farmers. The model achieved a remarkable 95% recognition rate in underwater field tests, demonstrating commercial viability. The software suite, named Watatumi, received a CES® 2025 Innovation Award in the Food & AgTech category. This achievement highlights the power of edge AI to deliver server-level computational accuracy in challenging environments, enabling real-time analysis without the need for external power sources or network connectivity.

“This demonstration marks a major milestone in applying AI to aquaculture, significantly increasing operational efficiency and reducing risks for farmers,” said Yuko Ishiwaka, Principal Investigator at the Advanced Technology Promotion Office in SoftBank’s Information Technology & Architect Division. “Our partnership with Aizip has been incredibly productive, and we look forward to expanding AI technology into more applications,” added Kazuto Suda, Director of the Advanced Technology Promotion Office. “This is just the beginning of AI’s role in aquaculture and other agricultural sectors,” noted Yen-Chi Xu, an AI scientist at Aizip who participated in the model design and field test. “We’re excited to continue working with SoftBank to bring efficient on-device AI solutions to our customers.”

Since its founding in 2020, Aizip has been a pioneer in developing efficient and robust AI solutions for customers worldwide. Its diverse portfolio includes vision, audio, time-series, and language models for both consumer and enterprise applications. The aquaculture solution is an extension of Aizip’s industrial AI offerings for enterprise customers. As industries increasingly recognize the value of locally processed data and the operational benefits of edge computing, Aizip is ready to deliver a comprehensive set of versatile, production-ready solutions across sectors that demand real-time, efficient analysis in constrained environments, enabling businesses to leverage AI where they need it most.

Aizip is committed to delivering powerful, low-cost AI solutions on edge devices and is dedicated to benefiting society through its cutting-edge technology. For more information, please contact: info@aizip.ai.

About Aizip, Inc.

Situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, Aizip, Inc. specializes in developing superior AI models tailored for endpoint and edge-device applications. Aizip stands apart for its exemplary model performance, swift deployment, and remarkable return on investment. These models are versatile, supporting a spectrum of intelligent, automated, and interconnected solutions. Discover more at www.aizip.ai.

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“This is just the beginning of AI’s role in aquaculture and other agricultural sectors”