“Artificial intelligence spots a wildfire in an OC canyon – and promptly alerts firefighters. Its practical uses continue to expand,” notes John Fund. The Press-Telegram reports:
When an artificial intelligence camera spotted a wildfire in a remote canyon in early December, it was the first time the Orange County Fire Authority received an alert from AI about a vegetation fire without getting an emergency call from a person…The University of California San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia camera network’s AI alerted the OCFA of an “anomaly” seen on video footage around 2 a.m. on Dec. 4. The network has several cameras located in wildfire-prone spots around Southern California.
The anomaly turned out to be a vegetation fire in Black Star Canyon, east of Irvine Lake.
“Unlike traditional emergency calls made through 911, this fire was solely detected by strategically mounted cameras monitoring high-risk areas across the county,” the OCFA said. “This location is not heavily trafficked at night, which likely contributed to the fact that zero reports of smoke or fire came in from the public.”
After receiving the AI alert, fire crews were able to contain the fire to less than a quarter of an acre, and there were no injuries, evacuations or homes burned. “While the agency has been utilizing AI in tandem with 911 calls to detect wildfires for some time, this is the first fire that was located exclusively by AI.”
Without it, the blaze could have spread significantly before anyone noticed it…“This is one example of how we are leveraging emerging technology and strategic partnerships to combat wildfires,” OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said. “With wildfire hazards now a year-round challenge, early detection and collaboration are crucial to protect lives and property.”
Robots with artificial intelligence will reduce the need for weed-killer and pesticides by more precisely targeting weeds and pests. That will cut farmers’ costs, and radically reduce the size of the crop chemical industry, because robots will use up to 90% less spray to kill the same number of weeds and pests.
Some robots using artificial intelligence can identify and kill 100,000 weeds per hour.
On some American farms, there are already drones with artificial intelligence that spray fungicides to kill pests. As Bloomberg News notes, “These aerial acrobats use less than a tenth of the energy of ground tractors — and they don’t squash the crops, rut the earth or even touch the soil.”
Robots with artificial intelligence are spreading on Japanese farms.
A genetically-modified chicken lays eggs that people allergic to eggs can eat. Genetic engineering recently produced bacon that people who are allergic to red meat can eat.
