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Saturday, May 2, 2026

AI-powered Lamp Posts [Brave New World]

 BBC


Hello, down below! I am talking to you: yes, you, Mr Derek Wimples of SW19, who works as a part-time plumber, allegedly, and last filed a detailed and plausible tax return for Tax Year 2021-2022. I believe your smelly pooch is pissing on me! Can this stop, please, or I shall have to call Humanoid Autonomous Armed Intervention Robocop #425, who happens to be patrolling 200 metres from here. 

At first, you start reading the article and you think it's a great idea. And then, as often with such stories, the more you learn about it, the more sinister and ominous it seems.

In effect, every streetlamp can become an AI-enabled super-spy keeping an eye on any person or vehicle that happens to be near it - and any dog that relieves itself on the lamppost too. 

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The lampposts can also operate as AI-powered surveillance cameras.
In Nigeria, each will be fitted with AI cameras capable of detecting parking violations, speeding vehicles, and seatbelt non-compliance, the company says.
iLamps with cameras are already in a car park at Warwick Hospital and are capable of providing "CCTV monitoring and number plate recognition," CPG says.
The streetlights might also be used to spot wanted or missing people using facial recognition, Fitzpatrick said.

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Driverless cars to be fined if guilty [California]

BBC 


No impunity for Herbie 

No impunity for driverless cars. They may have to testify in court, if required to do so. 

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Driverless cars are becoming more common in some California cities, but when the autonomous vehicles violate traffic laws, police haven't been able to ticket them - until now.
The state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has announced new regulations on autonomous vehicles (AVs), including a process for police to issue a "notice of AV noncompliance" directly to the car's manufacturer.
The new rules, which will go into effect 1 July, are part of a larger 2024 law that imposed deeper regulation on the technology.
There have been a number of reports of the cars breaking traffic laws, including during a San Francisco blackout last year.

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I had been a senior software developer working for HP and GM. I am interested in intelligent and scientific computing. I am passionate about computers as enablers for human imagination. The contents of this site are not in any way, shape, or form endorsed, approved, or otherwise authorized by HP, its subsidiaries, or its officers and shareholders.

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