AI and drones search for missing boy Gus Lamont in the outback
Police used AI-powered drones and high-resolution aircraft to search for four-year-old Gus Lamont at Oak Park Station, but found no trace.
More than a year after four-year-old Gus Lamont vanished from his grandparents' property near Yunta, an extraordinary technology search has found no trace of him. Police deployed drones with thermal cameras to scan for heat signatures at night.
A specially fitted aircraft photographed hundreds of square kilometres of South Australian outback at just 1.5 centimetres per pixel. Artificial intelligence trained to spot bones, clothing and shoes analysed the aerial images.
The technology could detect objects as small as a button. Yet the search found fewer than 20 potential leads.
The red dirt and sparse vegetation made it harder for the AI to learn what to filter out before spotting objects of interest.
- Gus Lamont, 4 years old
- Child
- September 27, 2025
- Disappeared
- Fewer than 20
- Potential leads found
Why it mattersThe case shows the limits of advanced search technology even in the hands of specialists, and keeps focus on one of Australia's most puzzling missing-child cases.
AustraliaGus disappeared from Oak Park Station in South Australia in September 2025; the search involved the biggest missing-person operation in SA police history.
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