So I'm going to Yes and this. The thing is that "AI" is not a thing, it's a field of activity that includes a whole load of different uses and applications from the pointless to the breakthrough. Saying "AI can or cannot be used for x" is like saying, "Chemistry can or cannot be used for x." - ThreadSky

rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social • 42 days ago

So I'm going to Yes and this. The thing is that "AI" is not a thing, it's a field of activity that includes a whole load of different uses and applications from the pointless to the breakthrough. Saying "AI can or cannot be used for x" is like saying, "Chemistry can or cannot be used for x."

Reposted from Kate Bevan

this is good from @jamesomalley.co.uk as it describes clearly how AI is being used to tackle potholes: on-the-fly edge image processing and recognition, automating reports. Exactly the kind of thing AI does really well. All we need now is councils to act on the reports and fix the damn potholes

Comments

zzypt.bsky.social•42 days ago

Data analysis 👍
Making up stuff when we need verifiable information 👎

buckmeister.bsky.social•42 days ago

I appreciate I've lost this battke but Machine Learning and AI are not the same thing except in so far as the impoverished media meaning of the term AI

lcrosby.bsky.social•42 days ago

I think there's an argument that machine learning and AI are more closely related than AI and LLMs/gen models. The former has a semblance of intelligence and the latter is a parlour trick.

headoffsecurity.bsky.social•42 days ago

I'm hoping that AI will one day be properly defined and that scientific research of it will feed back into cognitive science researching what the I part of the abbreviation would be in the first place.

buckmeister.bsky.social•42 days ago

I don't think this is the relationship at all. Machine learning is a branch of computational statistics that is focussed on self-parameterising statistical models. That is, those with "learning" algorithms. AI is an application of machine learning for large decision making systems.

rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social•42 days ago

Yes, I think that's why I have come down on "AI" as being an umbrella term for a whole field of activity, as it's quite liberally used and abused by everyone from marketing teams to policymakers

lightingmonkey.bsky.social•42 days ago

That's odd, I was just composing a post in my head exactly on this after seeing yet another "AI bad" message with no context. Thanks for expressing it better than I could.

adamlbrown.bsky.social•42 days ago

AI is on my list of terms I'd like to ban, along with economic growth, inclusive, sustainable. BE SPECIFIC

alanlawlor.bsky.social•42 days ago

Using AI to identify potholes is a problem that doesn’t need to be solved (even if it’s good at it).
A number of councils in Ireland came together and created a web portal “fixmystreet”. The public gladly obliged in reporting potholes, broken lights, burst water mains, blocked drains, etc

alanlawlor.bsky.social•42 days ago

It was so successful in gathering useful information about things to be fixed, the councils took the website down. They got more information on what needed to be fixed than resources to actually fix it

rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social•42 days ago

Most people don't know that much about the specific tools and technologies that go into solving most problems. Before the PM said the thing about potholes, I bet that most people who don't work in pothole management (or whatever it's called) had never thought about how potholes are identified.

rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social•42 days ago

And like, that's fine! The pothole specialists are prob happier if everyone keeps out of their way and lets them get on with their job. But, as the excellent blog post linked above shows, AI is not magically solving this problem on its own: it needs people, equipment and infra to get the job done

rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social•42 days ago

The problem for me is that AI has become parlayed out of being "things computers can do that can be helpfully used to solve problems" into being a magical force that do everything, make everything better, replace everything, make all the money, and it's getting a bit embarrassing

rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social•42 days ago

Imagine if the PM had given a speech on Monday in which he said that everyone needed to go on the Cabbage Soup diet because only cabbage could make everything better. Lots of things are good! More than one thing can happen at once! Let's all be sensible grown-ups.

rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social•42 days ago

Also, hi! If you would like to know more about this, I'm doing a "lunch and learn" in Feb that you can book for -- and I'm unashamedly sharing Lilian's recommendation 😉https://bsky.app/profile/lilianedwards.bsky.social/post/3lftyce6cdc2u

invalid-handle.com•42 days ago

Exactly. AI/ML is a toolbox not a magic wand. Some of the less than scruplulous techbros have been selling it as the latter and it’s disappointing to see politicians go along with it.

Simple communication is good politics. Setting people up for disillusionment is not

noomanhaque.bsky.social•42 days ago

This is likely like late 90s ‘internet will upend everything vibe’ even change the laws of economics

Benefits surely came but I’m still sceptical whether it’s been as revolutionary is electricity & other tech

policyskeptic.bsky.social•42 days ago

Worse, AI is being promoted as a solution to problems where simpler, cheaper things would be a far better solution to the problem.

briandrian.bsky.social•42 days ago

It feels a bit like the use of the word “computers” in the 1980s

autiomaa.org•42 days ago

Another related issue is that when the amount of knowledge about damaged roads increases, it can lead to situations where limited repair budgets are even more limited. Amount of knowledge about broken roads isn't enough in itself without extra money for repairs.

autiomaa.org•42 days ago

Similar problem in the healthcare where doctors and economists are actively warning about overdiagnosis. When there aren't enough time for even the regular care, more knowledge increases the overall pain, but overstretched system can't handle the repairs.

planetmatt.bsky.social•42 days ago

I think most people have hit a pothole, called the council about the pot hole, then sat and watched nothing happen for a year.

I get that AI CAN be used to find potholes, but if we don't have the resources to repair holes we know about, then why spend more money on more detection and not repair?

avick.bsky.social•42 days ago

That does not look like a pedestrian-friendly (one-way) street

lucywills.bsky.social•42 days ago

I heard this yesterday.

"Ai isn't a technology, it's an intermediary".

Regret to say I forgot from where!

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