Is this really artificial intelligence? It sounds like an image recognition algorithm to me. There's no mention of any sort of machine learning or anything that I would consider makes it AI.

I really am getting sick of anything that's remotely clever being labelled AI, just because it's the latest buzzword.

Just need an accelerometer to trigger on the bone jarring crash when you inadvertently drive into one of them. Or maybe just a microphone tuned to detect the resulting exclamation (which could be a use for ML).

A manager of mine once said "don't bring me problems, bring me solutions". Which was uncharacteristically wise of him, he must have got it from someone else who had an actual functioning brain. Identifying the problem is almost never the hard part of improving the situation, its getting off your arse and having the wit and wisdom to do something about it.

I agree. What follows, a conversation I had with MS Copilot, is an example of real AI at work.

Me: How can I best persuade people that they should use Linux instead of Windows?

Copilot: Persuading someone to switch from Windows to Linux can be quite the challenge, but it's all about highlighting the unique advantages that Linux brings to the table. Here are some compelling points you can make:

1. Freedom and Customization

Open Source: Emphasize that Linux is open-source software, which means users can inspect, modify, and enhance the code. This often translates to greater security and adaptability.

Customizability: Linux offers an unparalleled level of customization, allowing users to tweak their system to their exact liking. From the desktop environment to the kernel itself, every aspect can be tailored.

2. Security

Fewer Vulnerabilities: Linux is known for its robust security features and fewer vulnerabilities compared to Windows. It’s less targeted by malware, making it a safer choice.

Regular Updates: Linux distributions often provide regular updates and patches that are swiftly rolled out, ensuring that security holes are quickly addressed.

3. Performance and Efficiency

Resource Efficiency: Linux is typically less demanding on hardware, making it a good option for older machines or systems with limited resources.

Stability and Performance: Linux systems are renowned for their stability and performance. They can run for extended periods without the need for reboots.

4. Cost-Effective

Free of Charge: Many Linux distributions are free to download and use, which can be a significant advantage for those looking to cut costs.

No Licensing Fees: Linux eliminates the need for costly licensing fees associated with proprietary software.

5. Community and Support

Strong Community: Linux has a large and active community

It will be machine learning, which isn't AI. There are two potential advantages: much easier to plot all the holes; potentially identify trouble spots before they develop.

But without the money to fix them properly, councils will continue to patch the worst ones in adequately.

You could ask the people to 'tag' the potholes by spraypainting an outline of a giant penis around them...

Makes it easier for the 'A.I.' to spot them...

I trust everyone here is familiar with Wanksy? A hero of our time...

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/wanksy-penis-drawings-potholes-292168

There was a spate of those markings on the A325 near the border with Hampshire and Surrey, south of Wrecclesham, near Farnham in Surrey a few months back. The stretch of road on the Surrey side got resurfaced, but the pot holes remain on the Hampshire side, and the markings are now either faded away or been removed - and when driving at night, some are difficult to spot till it's too late... As I can attest to just yesterday.

"And it can do all this even at speeds up to 60 miles per hour (96 kph), with accuracy of up to 95 percent compared to humans."

Great stats, sounds great. Does it actually live up to the hype?

Time will tell.

And as A/C has already said, is it really AI? Doesn't sound like it to me either.

I wonder if the technology cost more that the 12 payouts that Surrey have actually stumped up for?

Clearly that's a rhetorical question as I think we all know what the answer is!

It's one thing to tag them, it's another to actually fix them.

Too many times the council will send a contractor out to fix a pothole and they'll go out with a cold bag of tarmac and push it in. It's akin to going to the dentist and them blobbing on a bit of flouride in a cavity.

The moment it rains, and it goes cold/freezes, then gets hit by a bus/HGV the patch breaks up because it's not integrated properly with the road surface. So the pothole not only reappears but it gets worse.

That is the main problem with pot holes. Not the fact that they're there, but the fact they're never repaired properly. Until of course it's the end of the tax year and then the council + their dog goes out to do a whole raft of shitty nonsensicle road works on parts of the network which are fine.

"...It is able to calculate the width, length, and depth of potholes it discovers..."

I wonder how an ordinary optical camera can measure the depth of a pothole - surely that would need some kind of radar/lidar/sonar.

A pair of cameras should be able to estimate depth.

Irrespective of the number of cameras, an optical-only system fails miserably when the roads are wet because it can't 'see' into the water. The Met Office can offer details on the percentage of wet days but Shirley the Council will have figured out that, in the very season potholes tend to start opening up, they can't reliably get data from their curb-crawling?

"an optical-only system fails miserably when the roads are wet "

That was my feeling too ... when is a puddle a 8'x4' wide dip in the tarmac and when is it a gaping chasm to hell filled with enough water to a whole flange of baboons?

To be fair, the council will try anything to deny a pothole is a pothole. Remember Cheshire Council and Darren? https://www.indy100.com/news/cheshire-west-chester-council-pothole-tweet-viral-disaster-meme-joke-funny-inspector-darren-8250396

I never knew I moved across the Thames to North

An AI has worked out that the River Mole can be used for tunnelling. Clever old AI!

planting a banana tree in the biggest holes?

https://mothership.sg/2024/02/banana-tree-plant-pothole/

Or - as a cost efficient way of dealing with the same problem - they could have someone in Surrey Council keep tabs on the FixMyStreet website or perhaps implement their own 'report a problem' tracker.

Hold on: neither of those solutions requires buying into some shiny new AI so it wouldn't get funding. Silly me, forget I mentioned it!

Edit: FixMyStreet or their own problem tracker could also deal with busted street lighting, obscured / damaged roadsigns and myriad other issues rather than being a single-problem solution.

Well an e-mail address would suffice.

If they really wanted to go high tech an app which e-mailed a photo and the gps coordinates would probably make the council money.

Still trying to locate some Real Intelligence. Seems to be Bert little left in the old country.

For stuff like signs and street lamps an email to my local council (well, their road, electrical, water... whatever service department) works quite well. Stuff is usually fixed quite soon after reporting.

I've used Fill That Hole (developed by a Cyclists organisation?) in the past; I reported about 20 potholes in a stretch of worn out road, they were patched within weeks and the road was later resurfaced.

But for this "AI" to have comprehensive coverage, it needs to be fitted on bin lorries to cover all the roads in the area, not just the highways.

Well, the roads around here (Surrey - SW). Everyone is right up the car in fronts' arse, so if they do that too they will never see a pothole, just the backend of a car. If you don't get close enough to the car in front, horns are a blazing or people will try to cut in / around instead.

As for the high speeds it can work at. No where around here can you reach that speed (hardly even 70mph). so much of the motorways / dual carriage ways are either 50 normally or under so much road works that 70 is hardly achieved.

But lets see if things improve as that is the key thing here

we can't afford to fix any potholes this year, we spent our entire pothole budget on the AI pothole detector kit.

This is just shiny baubles as a distraction. There are two problems that need to be dealt with before AI is touted as a solution.

The first is that finding them is pointless if the councils haven't got the money to fix them, aren't allowed to raise taxes enough to get the money to fix them and the government isn't giving them any more money to fix them. The costs of their statutory duties (homelessness, SEND, care) are growing. 6 years ago my council spent about £250k a year on homelessness - it's forecast to be £3M this year and to keep on growing. SEND is forecast to bankrupt the education budget in about a decade if it grows at the current rate. Care homes are closing because the Private Equity cunts that bought them can't make the returns on them that they think they deserve so the costs of placements are increasing.

The second is that because my council is broke it has a "partnership" deal with its roads contractor whereby it self-iinspects and self-certifies its work. This reduces the councils costs from bid through management and sign off of works and, unsurprisingly, results in work of the quality you'd expect from those three blokes in a Transit who knock on the door and ask if you want your drive resurfacting. As a result we have roads that are less than ten years old which are completely worn out and repairs are so shoddy that they don't last two mild southern winters before they unseal and start breaking up. They re-surfaced a local bike path two years ago and it's so uneven that you need a full suspension MTB to ride it.

>>They re-surfaced a local bike path two years ago and it's so uneven that you need a full suspension MTB to ride it

Bloody cyclists. If it weren't for them there would be enough budget for the roads... scabbing off road tax payers to use them anyway - why do they need cycle paths? never bloody use them... mutter mutter mutter

/S just in case anyone is under any illusions of what I actually think; for a further hint look at the icon!

"We imagine, though, that the diffusion of responsibility kicks in here, with the net result being that motorists think someone else will already have reported the gaping chasm in the road, thus it doesn't actually get reported."

The main problem I've found is getting a report to the right council, if you report to borough and it's county they tell you to report it to county and vice versa. Each road and path can be either (or even parish), so it gets exhausting trying to report. Even using something like Love Clean Streets to make things quicker results in lots of "not us mate" replies from councils.

That is if the council will even entertain fixing or sorting the issue, I have a rather lengthy "get lost" email from county stating they don't care enough to deal with a problem because residents won't let them and that would mean they'd have to put in effort.

A stitch in time saves nine. It costs less to deal with a smaller defect. Why not email the chief executive of your county council (etc) and ask them if they've ever known of a case where a hole healed up all of itself? It won't happen even with three rings of paint.

There is already a fleet of vehicles that patrol the roads every fortnight. Dustcarts. Offer crews rewards for defects reported.

Buses are often tracked in real time by GPS. A few of them with accelerometers on say front-left axle should be able to send red flags to highways. (And make damage claims easier because there's a definite record of the council knowing about it.)

Of course being councils means every effort is made to quintuplicate the resources needed to fix anything. Why not send out fixing teams to see what they can find on a certain route? I KNOW there is rampant fraud in some councils when it comes to 'trusted' highway 'engineers' setting-up unnecessary jobs but where crews are in public and there's a lot of photographic evidence this should be manageable. What we need is pattern-spotting to deal with worse-than-surface issues not project-enhancing, bung-accepting 'engineers'.

Finally: Use section 56 of the Highways act 1980. It's very simple to send an email headed NOTICE SECTION 56 HIGHWAYS ACT 1980 to the Chief Executive of the relevant Highways Authority. They hate that because they have 30 days to reply. And any definition of hole or blocked drain which they use to excuse themselves as not being worthy of attention is blown away. The test is Defective which a magistrate can decide on evidence.

Some great points there.

I posted "bin lorries" before I read your comment. The problem with manual reporting is it's distracting the workers from what they should be doing and duplication. Automated detection and reporting makes sense there.

Is there such a thing? Surely _all_ potholes need attention, irrespective of size?

An oft-repeated myth is that potholes form through a combination of surface cracks, water, and traffic

This isn't a myth: it's how they occur. Their extent and frequency is affected by the lack of maintenance but also by heavier vehicls: lorries are allowed to carry a lot more than they used to and those SUVs that everyone loves put noticeable strain on many smaller roads as they weigh often two or three times of more compact cars.