California uses AI to help recognize wildfires -.

We are all familiar with the ongoing environmental disaster taking place in Hawaii. The wildfires ravaging the Pacific island have already caused immeasurable damage and loss of life, and this is honestly becoming a fairly common turn of events on a global scale. As the earth continues to warm, forest fires are becoming more common, and in an effort to detect and be able to jump on them, California is now using AI to help recognize forest fires.

California is a state that has experienced frequent wildfires, which is why the state has partnered with University of California San Diego’s ALERTCalifornia program to create a 24-hour monitoring network that uses hundreds of cameras in the state’s wilderness to track wildfires and other disasters. Because real people cannot always be on duty to monitor these cameras, an AI tool was built in to monitor the cameras, hoping to get a jump on wildfires before they get out of control.

CAL FIRE’s investment in the ALERTCalifornia program is said to have already exceeded $20 million, with another $3.5 million planned over the next few years.