Greece Is Working With Israel On AI Technology To Quickly Detect Wildfires 22
Greece is working with Israel on developing artificial intelligence technology that would help in early detection of dangerous wildfires, the Greek prime minister said Monday. The Associated Press reports: After talks with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, Kyriakos Mitsotakis also said that Israel could be brought into the European Union fold when it comes to civil protection initiatives to better coordinate firefighting efforts. Mitsotakis said Greece could act as a proving ground for Israeli AI technology in early detection of wildfires.
"We are already talking to Israel about AI-based solutions that will offer us early detection capabilities," Said Mitsotakis. Netanyahu said the three leaders discussed "going well beyond" dispatching firefighting aircraft and crews by deploying AI systems for early detection. "This is really one of those areas where when we say we'll do it better together, there's no question that that's the case," Netanyahu said.
"We are already talking to Israel about AI-based solutions that will offer us early detection capabilities," Said Mitsotakis. Netanyahu said the three leaders discussed "going well beyond" dispatching firefighting aircraft and crews by deploying AI systems for early detection. "This is really one of those areas where when we say we'll do it better together, there's no question that that's the case," Netanyahu said.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Letting another country to introduce high-tech surveillance technology is like giving the keys of your own house to a stranger/enemy.
Israel is an ally to Greece, it makes very much sense.
Same as when the US are selling submarines to Australia... Australia/USA are allies, so it also makes sense.
Basically, it's just another AC not liking this news because it involves Israel... Next time, please at least try to disguise it a bit more.
Detection (Score:3)
I think detection won't help. The climate is running so far out of control that the next wildfire is just a matter of time, and less than a year away.
If you only think of what the last wildfire did for the climate, you know it can only get worse: forests are the thing that keep the planet cool (along with the oceans, but we ruined them too), and replacing a lot of forest with a blackened land and a lot of extra CO2 can only make thing worse, making the next wildfire even more likely.
Prevention is the only option.
Re: (Score:3)
"Patrick T. Brown, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University, says he deliberately OMITTED key fact in climate change piece he's just had published in prestigious journal to ensure woke editors ran it - that 80% of wildfires are started by humans"
"I just got published in Nature because I stuck to a narrative I knew the editors would like. That's not the way science should work."
"But 'the more practical kind of analysis is discouraged' because it 'weakens the case for greenhouse gas emissions reductions', Brown
Re:Detection (Score:4, Informative)
If you're trusting that as your source, you need help.
As for detecting wildfires, talk to Australia as bushfires are a serious issue over there and they've been working on tracking them for decades. Last time I was involved we were tracing when power lines and mobile telephone towers stopped responding, That was 15+ years ago.
Re: (Score:2)
If you are so blinded by your politics that you are incapable of following the link to Bari Weiss' The Free Press where the author quoted published his article and included the link to -- for what it's worth -- a study, one in PNAS (The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), titled "Human-started wildfires expand the fire niche across the United States" that asserts that "human-started wildfires accounted for 84% of all wildfires, tripled the length of the fire season, dominated an area seven tim
Re: Detection (Score:2)
And by the way DailyMail, for all of their bikini pictures, or maybe because of them, is the less biased source on American politics than any of the major media outlets in the US.
That's as dumb as following British politics from foxnews.com
Smarter would be The Telegraph
Big brain move would be WSJ
If I was making one of those histogram memes. Don't fool yourself, if you're dead set on something that leans right, there are better media outlets in both countries. I don't know why everyone that complains about "the media" gives off strong media illiteracy vibes, I haven't figured that out yet.
Re: (Score:2)
The use of AI sounds like marketing wank too. Detecting black smoke against a blue sky, or orange flames, doesn't need AI. A thermal camera could do it too.
Re:Detection (Score:5, Informative)
You have to make sense of the output from the thermal camera when there's lots of heat around, it's not trivial. The sooner you can detect that a fire has started, the less it spreads while you scramble the bombers. We are already using thermal cameras in California (we shut down most of the fire watch posts and replaced them with the camera systems) but there is still room for improvement. Whether "AI" is the best solution or not, I don't know.
Re: (Score:3)
Prevention is the only option.
Prevention is not an option. Unless you think they're going to go out and rake the forests? The way to prevent serious forest fires is to permit forest fires to occur while the understory fuel load is low. It is now too late for that, period. We have no technology, no apparatus, no work force, and no plan for clearing the understory without fire.
Some of the first laws on the books in California prohibited starting the controlled burns that the natives were using to maintain this land for ten thousand years.
Re: (Score:2)
This is Greece, the country in Europe. I'm sure there's a town in California called Greece, but that's not what this story is about.
Re: (Score:2)
We humans have done the same sort of thing across most of the planet. That was just an example with which I'm familiar. You're not special.
California (Score:2)
https://arstechnica.com/inform... [arstechnica.com]
Controlled burns (Score:3)
The only reason Israel is helping is because they are getting something out of this, and it is not money.
Re: (Score:3)
The only reason Israel is helping is because they are getting something out of this, and it is not money.
Same as any country helping another country. Which is something that happen all day long, not sure why this specific instance got coverage on slashdot...
Most specifically (people should read TFA, it is actually written in it), they get:
- a real world playground to test their wildfire detection AI
- political credit with the EU for helping them. In case you didn't notice, their direct neighbors are usually not very friendly to them, which means seeking alliances is always a good idea. Same reason Qatar organi
Re: How to prevent forest fires (Score:2)
Bold claims...
Also, political crap.