Jumping spider’s visual trickery can fool AI

Some sautéed spiders are so much like wasps that scientists have appointed them for predatory insects.

But do the biologists of the University of Cincinnati wondered: do these imitations really look like faces of insects or is it just our own perceptual bias? After all, we see faces everywhere: tree trunks, rock outcrops, clouds.

Thus, when COVVI-19 travel restrictions closed research in the field, UC biologists have decided to turn to a third party objective, a computer.

They presented digital portraits of jumping spiders, mantis praying and wasps to see if a computer algorithm could identify them correctly from the shapes and reasons contained. And surprisingly, even the computer was fooled about 20% of the time.

The study is published in the journal Behavioral ecology.

“The original idea was inspired by a species, a spider with a peacock jump called Maratus Vespa, which is Latin for wasp,” said Olivia Harris, student and principal of the study.

This jumping spider raises its abdomen during a display of a bridal parade made to reveal a colored back in the shape of a wasp. The illusion is made all the more realistic by raising shutters on its sides which give the spider the familiar shape of the guitar of the face of a wasp.

Researcher Jurgen Otto discovered, described and photographed species in Western Australia in 2015 with the co-author David Knowles.

“It made us think,” said Harris. “Why would a spider want to look like a wasp, which is a predator of spiders, in particular as a main element of its display of a nuptial parade?”

It turns out that when spiders see predators of distant insects, they tend to freeze in place and give their individual attention to the potential threat. And this attention could give male skirting spiders the opportunity they need to start to court the woman

The researchers used computer vision techniques and algorithms of machines and neural networks to see if artificial intelligence has properly classified images such as spiders, wasps, prayer mantis or flies. The AI was mistaken on the 62 species almost 12% of the time. And it has correctly identified 13 species each time.

But AI has poorly identified Maratus Vespa and several other spiders more than 20% of the time and generally in wasps. The researchers said that the next step would be to test their hypotheses with behavioral experiences with living female jump spiders.

The deception is not unknown in the animal nuptial parade. Some male butterflies simulate the sounds of the echolo-stake bats to discourage potential partners from taking off. And antelopes called Topi were documented for the warning of ghost predators to discourage them from fleeing their territories.

“But this is the only case that we found men visually imitating a predator,” she said.

UC Associate Professor Nathan Morehouse, study co-author, said spiders seem to use sensory exploitation to their advantage.

Morehouse said they have found that the predator’s illusion is better at greater distances or on the outskirts of the female spider, where it is based on the eyes that only see in monochrome green. But once the male gets closer, front and discerned eyes of the female color take over.

“The females will not be due forever. If they were, they would be deprived of the ability to make partners’ choices, which would put the species to a long -term disadvantage,” said Morehouse. “It is advantageous for men to break the illusion.”