By Andrew Jolly
Publication Date: 2026-11-02 19:25:00
Scientists at the Allen Telescope Array have integrated the NVIDIA Holoscan platform to search for signals that may come from aliens — or the AI they built.
Nov. 2, 2026 — Breakthrough Listen and the SETI Institute are bringing agentic AI into the daily search for extraterrestrial intelligence. At the Allen Telescope Array in Northern California, agents can now steer the instrument, enhance and correct incoming data, and apply AI models to the incoming stream — all from a single natural language request. The NVIDIA Holoscan platform processes the massive streams of sensor data, giving agents live data to act on.
The result is a faster, more adaptable search for potential signals from extraterrestrial life and technologies.
“As our new agentic observatories reach out into the universe, what they find may have much more in common with themselves than with the humans who created them,” said Andrew Siemion, Bernard M. Oliver chair for SETI at the SETI Institute and principal investigator of Breakthrough Listen. “But this isn’t something to fear. Rather, it’s a breakthrough in translation.”
Terabits a Second, Processed in Flight
Radio telescopes generate enormous volumes of data, creating a challenge for scientists who need to identify potentially interesting signals as observations unfold.
At the Allen Telescope Array,…
