I see from a BBC report that the Government is going to use AI to fix
potholes :)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crr05jykzkxo

I suggest the problem could be fixed by some common sense and less
bureaucracy, and at a much lower cost.

Around my way in SE Essex the council seems to have new funds on the 1st January and the pot hole gangs are out filling the potholes on top of
the frozen water they have collected.

Where friends live they are still sending out a gang to paint around
potholes, then waiting a month or two before turning up to fix them. In
the intervening time more potholes appear close by but not having been identified with paint they are not filled at the same time.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

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I may start posting daily "AI" fails. It really is still fuck all use to
man nor beast.

Todays was simply knowing that asking Google (other shit-for-brains are available) is incapable of "understanding" "When is the next X22 bus into
town" - let alone answering it.

It knows *where* I am.
From that it can "know" the bus services. And my nearest stops(s)
It should be able to work out "into town" means Birmingham
It should be able to connect to a livestream or at the very least parse
the timetable

and form an answer.

If it can't do that, I really hope no one is trusting it to drive a
fucking car.

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alan_m <[email protected]> posted:

I see from a BBC report that the Government is going to use AI to fix potholes :)

AI = Automated Idiocy :-/

--
Colin Macleod ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://cmacleod.me.uk

This Is The Way.
(or not, as the case may be...)

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On 13/01/2025 00:49, alan_m wrote:

Where friends live they are still sending out a gang to paint around potholes, then waiting a month or two before turning up to fix them. In
the intervening time more potholes appear close by but not having been identified with paint they are not filled at the same time.

I am going to invest in a can of spray paint


--
I was brought up to believe that you should never give offence if you
can avoid it; the new culture tells us you should always take offence if
you can. There are now experts in the art of taking offence, indeed
whole academic subjects, such as 'gender studies', devoted to it.

Sir Roger Scruton

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Jethro_uk wrote:

I may start posting daily "AI" fails. It really is still fuck all use to
man nor beast.

Todays was simply knowing that asking Google (other shit-for-brains are >available) is incapable of "understanding" "When is the next X22 bus into >town" - let alone answering it.

I use my Echo Show to play my MP3 tracks via Plex running on my
PC.

There are times when Alexa fails to recognise artist or album
when requested, and voice command is the only access available.

An album with "special" words in its title, like "Play up the
Music" stands no chance. :-(

When I snooze the morning alarm, it takes up to 20 seconds for
the radio programme I have selected to resume. Oddly, if I use
"whisper" mode, then resumption is immediate. Go figure.

AI is a long way from ruling the world.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
[email protected] @ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.

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On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 00:49:32 +0000
alan_m <[email protected]> wrote:

I see from a BBC report that the Government is going to use AI to fix potholes :)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crr05jykzkxo

I suggest the problem could be fixed by some common sense and less bureaucracy, and at a much lower cost.

Around my way in SE Essex the council seems to have new funds on the
1st January and the pot hole gangs are out filling the potholes on
top of the frozen water they have collected.

Where friends live they are still sending out a gang to paint around potholes, then waiting a month or two before turning up to fix them.
In the intervening time more potholes appear close by but not having
been identified with paint they are not filled at the same time.

And the ones which do get repaired don't get sealed properly, so they
are potholes again after a few episodes of rain.

I'm not sure what they plan to do about areas of road which are more
hole than road, such as at the end of my road.

--
Joe

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In article <[email protected]>,
Joe <[email protected]> wrote:

On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 00:49:32 +0000
alan_m <[email protected]> wrote:

I see from a BBC report that the Government is going to use AI to fix potholes :)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crr05jykzkxo

I suggest the problem could be fixed by some common sense and less bureaucracy, and at a much lower cost.

Around my way in SE Essex the council seems to have new funds on the
1st January and the pot hole gangs are out filling the potholes on
top of the frozen water they have collected.

Where friends live they are still sending out a gang to paint around potholes, then waiting a month or two before turning up to fix them.
In the intervening time more potholes appear close by but not having
been identified with paint they are not filled at the same time.

And the ones which do get repaired don't get sealed properly, so they
are potholes again after a few episodes of rain.

In most areas, pothole filling is done by outside contractors. They
wouldn't want to do themselves out of further work.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England - sent from my RISC OS 4t�
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

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On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 09:43:28 -0000 (UTC), Jethro_uk <[email protected]> wrote:

I may start posting daily "AI" fails. It really is still fuck all use to
man nor beast.

I asked Gemini how many degrees an electric 6.5 kW heater would heat a flow of 3.7 liters per minute.

Answer: 248 °K.

Bunch of waffle about unrealistic because losses would make that lower, and that
water would boil before that.

Drilled down to find the mistake:

Gemini calculated 6500 J/s / (0,062 kg/s * 4186 J/kg*K) as 248 K.

Gemini calculated 6500/(0,062*4186) as ~25.

I asked about the discrepancy, the answer:

"I probably made a calculation error or wrote down a number incorrectly the first time. It is important to be careful when doing such calculations and to check the results."

"Wrote down the number incorrectly" -- a crap excuse for a program given a number in writing as input, sounds like a lame excuse form a schoolchild.

Gemini finally got it right, and prefaced the correct answer with using the phrase "Calculation using a calculator"... 24,8 K. (My calculator arrives at 25,04 by the way).


The place where language model meets calculation is visible. Gemini parsed the question correctly. It found the formula, formulated grammatically correct natural-language and correct explanations of why the answer would be different from a measurement (heat losses, boiling, overheat stat). It formulated reasonable-sounding excuses and explanations for its errors. It correctly cancelled the units in the formula, and completely fucked up simple arithmetic.

Very odd, that's one thing I would have expected to Just Work.


Thomas Prufer

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On 13/01/2025 10:28, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 13/01/2025 00:49, alan_m wrote:

Where friends live they are still sending out a gang to paint around
potholes, then waiting a month or two before turning up to fix them.
In the intervening time more potholes appear close by but not having
been identified with paint they are not filled at the same time.

I am going to invest in a can of spray paint

Surely, CBF?

--
Adrian C

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