On: Google SWE points 48 AI agents at NASA Lidar, finds unmapped Maya pyramid in 72h

Wasn't it extremely expensive to analyse so many images?

Edit: I asked gemini and it's only 834 1200x1200 images for 1,200 km2 at standard lidar resolution.

Can that be used to detect illegal mining operations in South America?

It can, but then it runs into the Google Maps issue - everything altruistic at the expense of some bad actor becomes a Security, Military or Legal concern - and the apathy issue.

This is partly why George Clooney abandoned his Project Sentinel - documenting atrocities from space means nothing if you cannot action on the people and financial networks enabling them.