AI chatbots outperform Google search at blocking illegal wildlife trade requests, Kent study finds

University of Kent researchers David Roberts and Jason R.C. Nurse tested the safeguards AI platforms use to block requests involving threatened wildlife and the illegal wildlife trade, and how those safeguards can be bypassed, in a paper published in Conservation Biology, the university said Oct. 9. Overall, the AI platforms did better than a standard Google search at preventing potentially illegal wildlife trade, with Gemini performing best, followed closely by DeepSeek, Grok and ChatGPT, though the researchers also found links to websites potentially trading in illegal wildlife. Safeguards were strongest for charismatic species such as slow lorises, chimpanzees and tigers and weakest for corals, tarantulas and orchids, which Roberts said are of equal concern.