Karen Bakker speaks at TED2023: Possibility on April 17, 2023, in Vancouver, BC, Canada. (Photo: Gilberto Tadday / TED)

It is with immense sadness that we commemorate the legacy of Dr. Karen Bakker, who died on August 14. Karen’s talk at TED2023, Could an orca give a TED Talk?, demonstrated the beautiful promise afforded by technologies such as AI to help us understand the natural world more deeply.

A Guggenheim Fellow and professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Karen was known for her work on digital transformation, environmental governance and sustainability. Her 2022 book, The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants, was a literary tour de force that won numerous awards, as of course did Karen herself. She earned her PhD from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

Everyone at TED sends their deepest condolences to Karen’s family and friends.