These Spelman Students Made Plants Talk With AI

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]A group of young women from Spellelman College in Atlanta have built something they call plant GPT.

[00:00:04]>> Hi Diaspora family. It's Shay Richberg here coming to you with another amazing AI story. But before we jump in, don't forget to download your ADNC app so you can check out amazing stories just like this one on the app. All right. So previously, if you've seen any of the other videos that I've created, I've been talking about how AI has been taking from humans. But now I want to share an amazing story on how AI is actually helping individuals and society overall with a big problem. So the story starts out with two young ladies who attend Spellelman University in Atlanta and they have created AI that can make your plants literally tell you what it needs. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. So your plants will now be speaking to you and explaining what it needs, where it needs to go, and what it needs to help you know advance. So I think this is amazing. So the two young women, their vision is just beyond helping you grow your plants. Overall this creation and working with AI, they are looking to help um decrease food insecurity, urban farming, and they know that this application will actually be part of a $25 billion industry in the future. So without further ado, let's jump right in and let me show you the video.

[00:01:22]>> If plants could talk, what would they say?

[00:01:25]>> The highlight intensity is burning my delicate foliage. While it may sound far-fetched, that Victorian voice you just heard is a plant actually talking.

[00:01:39]>> A group of young women from Spellelman College in Atlanta have built something they call plant GPT.

[00:01:44]>> We collect data using sensors um and this data gets sent to our LLM llama which generates tailor care recommendations. These recommendations are then sent to a Python text to speech library which convert the text to speech. Okay, so that was a great introduction to this story. So, we're going to dive in a little deeper and I'm going to explain uh a little bit more on what's going on here. So, as I just stated, we have two researchers who attend um Spellelman University in Atlanta, and they're part of their innovation lab, and they've spent three years working on this project that they call plant GPT, just like chat GPT. And so, this is how it works. Essentially they put sensors to collect real-time information from a plant. Real-time uh data would be light, moisture, um soil conditions and then the AI generates uh a tailored recommendation for them and they call that llama. So then the AI takes the text and changes that into a spoken language. It's actually pretty amazing. Um, I saw that video and I I took this personally because I'm one of these people out here that do a great disservice to some of my plants and we really have to be mindful of plants and herbs that we're gardening. You know, they're so important and so a device like this would be so instrumental for me and I'm sure so many of us out here who want and need our plants in our homes. And so I love how the girls actually broke down a little bit more as to why this is so important because I understand everyone does not plant.

[00:03:20]Everybody does not have a green thumb, but it's really important. It goes much further than just Shay's plant or anybody else's plant in their house. So I'm going to explain this why this matters is because they've researched that eight and 10 households actually have garden in 2024. And I'm assuming that that number may have gone up in the recent years. And nearly 50% of those gardeners are beginners. So unfortunately for the plants and the herbs that they're gardening, I think that means that it didn't work out that well, like most noviceses surrounding gardening, right? Um some of the best gardeners I know literally have been doing this when they were young with their parents and now they're older and you know they're phenomenal, but not all of us, you know, had that experience and so we're trying to just get in the game.

[00:04:08]and in getting in the game, we don't want to sacrifice the plants and herbs that we're trying to grow. So, they actually called out Gen Z plant owners actually have a higher pool of things not going correctly for them. Um, people are more invested in growing plants and herbs, but it just doesn't seem to be working out that well for them. And so, uh, the young ladies were saying that they would love to have this in home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowe's all across the country. And they'd also like to help small farmers and urban gardeners in different communities. So, why does this, you know, affect us? What does this really mean? So, when we take a look at uh food insecurity, that's a huge, huge issue.

[00:04:56]Not just in America, all over the world, but it's a huge issue. And if there is technology to be used so we can grow more food for people in this world that is outstanding. I mean there's almost nothing better than that ladies and gentlemen. So having uh this AI product that would increase food growth is amazing. That right there is what we need you know hands down. So what's important for us to remember is that um food poverty issues, it's not just someone who's in poverty. Food poverty issues is actually uh technology access.

[00:05:37]It's actually an issue of land access and it's knowledge accessibility. So all of those are actually roped together as these ladies created plant GPT. And so I have a few takeaways for you. I think the story is really good. And so three things that I want you to walk away with after hearing this. Okay. The first thing, we must must must support our H.B.CU.

[00:06:02]I'm not saying every black American needs to go to a H.B.CU. You have, you know, a choice to go anywhere you want, but it's important for so many, you know, to support a H.B.CU. And you don't even have to go to a H.B.CU to necessarily support it. But in this article, you know, we've seen that they are really doing amazing work. They're working on life-changing projects, and we need a lot of future inventors to be in those labs, be part of those labs.

[00:06:32]And so, uh, we have to continue supporting those environments that are cranking out amazing innovations like this. So, yes, please always consider supporting H.B.CU and their innovations.

[00:06:44]Also, explore an urban gardening for your household. This is so important.

[00:06:48]So, we are coming to a time span where a lot of stores are closing. You see less um produce on the shelves. I'm sure you all have noticed that. You know, I've noticed that on TV and certain stores.

[00:07:03]And so, it's important for you to be able to garden. It's important for you to control, you know, the health and the food that's going into your system. It is so important. And so as we are seeing um as they call food deserts all over America where there aren't enough grocery stores, there's not enough access to food in particular, the foods that we need for our bodies, the produce, the fruits and vegetables, people are turning to growing them.

[00:07:32]Okay? And that's something that I really encourage, you know, because I want the best for everyone in this world. I have to say that's why I'm up here, you know, talking about these stories with you guys. Um, producing your own plants and vegetables is so important. And we talked about the vegetables, but plants are also amazing, too. It's really good to have plants within your home. You know, if you research, you can see that uh plants help uh the oxygen levels within your home. It actually helps with your mood. It helps with the total environment within your home. I can make a whole video for about two hours explaining the importance of plants and why we need them in our environment in our home. not just going outside. So many of us are so busy we don't get an opportunity to get out in nature and that's what we need to do. So if we can't because we have busy schedules sometimes we do need to bring nature to us. So we need to be eating better and we need to have our plant babies in our home. Okay? And this is not just for you know women. This is no gender thing.

[00:08:32]This is health. I'm talking health.

[00:08:35]Okay? So that's the second takeaway. And lastly, I would like you to share this story with uh your daughters, your your moms, your cousins because this really gives um ideas on how females are really changing and getting innovative on how they can find products that help something um that they really are attracted to. Women love gardening. Men love gardening, too. Don't get me wrong.

[00:09:00]Men love garden. Some of the best gardeners I know are men because if you know gardening is a lot of stress on the back. It's really really heavy labor. Um so it's for both men and women but it's something that uh I think would encourage young females to you know get in get involved in learning more about AI and learning how they can create and help you know products for their home life and in society altogether. So if you like this uh video, please like down below and don't forget to go to shay richberg.com.

[00:09:39]Uh we have pivot top to power network there where we have like-minded individuals and like this story about how leaders need to come together, how we need to work with AI and create situations like this to help ourselves and the world in general. We also have future path AI which is a AI um agentic platform which helps people connect um their skills with the right careers. So ladies and gentlemen, it has been wonderful talking with you today. I am so excited because this has been an encouraging and enlightened video and I hope it enlightens all of you guys to think about how you're going to work with AI and change the world. Okay, until next time. Talk to you later. Bye.