Caterers in China Are Using AI To Spot Unhygienic Cooks, Report Says (venturebeat.com) 40
If you've ever harbored doubts about the hygiene of the cooks flipping your burger and frying your fries, you're definitely not the only one. From a report: Thepaper.cn reports that local authorities in eastern China have tapped artificial intelligence (AI) to clamp down on unsanitary cooks in kitchens -- and to reward those who adhere to best practices. According to the report, a camera-based system currently being piloted in the Zhejiang city of Shaoxing automatically recognizes "poor [sanitation] habits" and alerts managers to offending workers via a mobile app. It's reportedly the fruit of a six-year project -- Sunshine Kitchen -- that seeks to bring transparency to food preparation in catering, hotels, school cafeterias, and restaurants.
That is a great idea (Score:3)
Some may find that as creepy but honestly if I were a cook I would welcome something that alerted me if I could be doing better with food safety.
Similar to how in coding, I do not mind a plethora of warnings and errors from a compiler, because cleaning those up I can realize if I've started to slack in some ways with regards to good coding habits or proper use of the language at hand.
Food prep is such an area that can make a big difference in public safety though, it's great to see AI being used in this way.
Re:That is a great idea (Score:4, Interesting)
And if those compiler errors affected your social credit score?
There will always be a positive reason for embracing each creep forward by the totalitarian panopticon. Freedom requires accepting minor harm from others, as the other choice is total control (whether by government or employer, it's not good). Less worrying if it's just your boss doing it, perhaps, until every boss does it at which point it might as well be government.
I've worked directly with the automated systems that monitor the minute-by-minute performance of Amazon warehouse employees. It's creepy as fuck. Humanity will not be made happier by having our every little mistake highlighted by machine. Being constantly observed closely, even by machine, is psychologically damaging.
Re: (Score:2)
Negative = the boss receives a notice
Deceptive = both receive a notice. It will ostensibly be used to alert the cooks to unsanitary practices, but its ultimate goal is to give management another stick to beat them with.
Re: (Score:1)
Actual:
Nobody receives a notice, the cook's social credit score juts goes down, then because their employee has low social credit the boss's score also goes down. If The Party ever (possibly years later) takes a particular interest in the cook or boss the log about unhygienic behavior is availabe to cite but it will lack any significant detail so the narrative can be crafted to fit the current need without any inconvenient facts messing it up.
For coders, they already do... (Score:2)
And if those compiler errors affected your social credit score?
For programmers they already do, if you spend any time on sites like StackOverflow, or passing along advice on Twitter - all of the casual mistakes you might make are revealed there with the effect of a very real social score (in the case of Stack Overflow, quite a literal score).
They also do, in that every person you work with (including managers) can (and will) see and evaluate your code...
Programmers of all people should be used to the idea o
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think you're following the point here.
Does you stack overflow score prevent you from using public transport? No? That's the difference in China.
Does your boss come and "coach" you in any hour in which you had a compiler error? No? Of course you're OK with it. Pack less than the desired number of boxes per hour in an Amazon warehouse and you'll be made to feel the pressure. Need 5 minutes for the restroom, better work extra hard! Feeling a bit off from cold medication? Plan to get written up.
Re: (Score:2)
Does you stack overflow score prevent you from using public transport? No? That's the difference in China.
As I said a trillion billion times, of course that aspect is bad. I find it odd technologists here seem unable to separate two distinct concepts and argue the merits of each independently.
Does your boss come and "coach" you in any hour in which you had a compiler error?
Are you fucking kidding me, here???? Have you EVER programmed in a team. If you check a compiler breaking error into the build system
Re:That is a great idea (Score:4, Insightful)
So, how do you feel about TFA, which isn't talking about something to alert the cooks to food safety problems, but alerting the EMPLOYER of the cook to food safety problems caused by the cook?
Myself, I wouldn't mind at all using an app that tried to teach me better food safety by warning me when I was doing something dumb. But I'm not that enamored of the idea of an app to warn my employer that I'm doing something dumb without bothering to let me in on the problem (and attempt to correct it) first....
Same difference (Score:2)
So, how do you feel about TFA, which isn't talking about something to alert the cooks to food safety problems, but alerting the EMPLOYER of the cook to food safety problems caused by the cook?
As someone who strives for excellence, I feel pretty damn good about that - the effect is the same, where the employer would tell me if there were any problems.
Something you are discounting is finally truly good employees could be recognized and rewarded on the merit of how well they work, rather than on how good they
Re: (Score:2)
Like with a lot of technologies it isn't what it does, but how it is implemented.
If your compiler send the report of warnings over to HR, where your raise is based on how many times you have a used a variable that you have never used, or had some debug code that you kept in with an "if (0) {"
For the cooks, if this lets them know they need to wash their hands, because they had just sneezed, this can be a friendly reminder. But if their face pops up on a Jumbo-tron saying this man is unhygienic avoid at all
Where is the slope (Score:2)
I would argue one data point does not a slope make. This is just data being collected on job performance, the way a LOT of other jobs have performance monitored. Why is it a problem now that we can actually monitor food handling as well as we can monitor output from other work, like programming or accounting work?
Re: (Score:2)
I said in other comments that China had obviously taken things too far. Here I am talking purely about the technology of monitoring cooks. Do you not think that is a good idea? Or would you rather life a life wallowing in filth and disease because you are afraid other countries may go the direction of China?
Re: (Score:2)
Can it also detect use of Gutter Oil?
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
Snort (Score:4, Interesting)
Caterers in China Are Using AI To Spot Unhygienic Cooks, Report Says
Real story: China is using machine vision to bypass the problem of corrupt inspectors. And it's a damned good idea, too. It raises the bar for bribery if a machine-interpreted photograph has to be taken of the workplace. To my mind, each and every inspection of basically anything ought to be evidential.
Re: (Score:2)
Bitcoin.
Re: (Score:2)
Real story: China is using machine vision to bypass the problem of corrupt inspectors.
Adding in AI gives a new meaning to the phrase "corrupt inspectors." If it uses multiple CPUs, then is that "Too many cooks?" [youtube.com]
I'm sorry Dave, you're adding too much salt to that soup.
Mr. Campbell of Soup: ShuddUUUppp.
Doesn't matter how hygenic the cooks are if (Score:2)
there are mice and roaches running all over the place. Or if food falls on the floor, or if the expiration date of foodstuffs which has long since passed.
So you have to monitor the cooks, and the facilities. Maybe even report when the manager is tapping a young worker on the food prep table.
brain snap (Score:1)
Did anyone else read that as "Catheters in China Are Using AI To Spot Unhygienic Cooks, Report Says"?
I did not like that visualization.
Ewwww (Score:2)
Did anyone else read that as "Catheters in China Are Using AI To Spot Unhygienic Cooks, Report Says"?
No, just you. Funny though...
I did not like that visualization.
Yeah that one will be hard to not see.
Re: (Score:2)
you misspelled cocks
China? (Score:2)
Manna? (Score:2)
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
I’ve been to china (Score:1)
"AI" is the new "blockchain" (Score:2)