The study was conducted by astronomers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani's Goa campus. The method devised by the scientists assessed the planets based on their similarity to Earth.

Indian astronomers have created a new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that has identified around 60 potentially habitable planets out of the 5,000 planets we know about.

According to the study published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), planets highlighted by the algorithm have a high probability of being habitable.

Named "Multi-Stage Memetic Binary Tree Anomaly Identifier" (MSMBTAI), the AI method is based on a novel multi-stage memetic algorithm (MSMA) that acts as a quick screening tool for evaluating habitability perspectives from observed properties.

“Earth being the only habitable planet among thousands of planets is defined as an anomaly. We explored whether similar ‘anomaly candidates can be found using novel anomaly detection methods," said Dr. Snehanshu Saha of BITS Pilani, Goa Campus.

Habitable planets discovered

The astronomers explained that the algorithm indicates cross-cultural evolution in posterity and as a result, can induce new learning mechanisms.