Why is Google releasing millions of infected mosquitoes?

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, has asked the US government for permission to release millions of mosquitoes in California and Florida which have been infected with a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia. Their aim is to reduce the mosquito populations’ ability to spread diseases like dengue, Zika, and yellow fever virus, as part of the 'Debug' programme, which is using robots and artificial intelligence to separate infected males from females. But there are questions about whether it is appropriate to entrust a private company with a public health operation of this scale, and what could happen if the AI experiments go wrong.Guest: Associate Professor Gordana Rasic, Head of Mosquito Genomics at QIMR Berghofer Producer: Catherine Zengerer