Posts by DafyddGrif

AI pothole patrol to snap flaws in Britain's crumbling roads

Re: AI?

Amen to your last sentence. There is no such thing as AI, despite the crud from politicians and so-called journalists who have no idea about what they write. REAL artificial Intelligence is still inside the skulls of most, not all, human beings. Even we cannot create a great deal. All we do is learn from others and adapt accordingly. Considering that an adult human brain contains around 86 billion neurons which in turn have a total of over 100 trillion synapses connecting with said neurons. I have a feeling that the current so-called 'AI' engines are a tad behind human intelligence and decades away from any credible AI engine.

Two things come to mind after reading this article. The first is that road resurfacing, not small repairs, is a major part of the pothole problem. In the past (probably over 15 years or more), when roads were resurfaced, the depth of the top layer was at least 50-75mm. Look today at roads that have recently been resurfaced and you will see the depth of the top layer no greater than 20mm. The increase in traffic, especially multi-axle trucks with maximum weight, take a massive toll on such thin top surfaces. Where I live, in the Welsh border region, I have watched newly resurfaced roads begin to break up after only 12-18 months. If roads were resurfaced as in the past, they would be more likely to withstand heavy traffic and there would be far less pothole issues.

The second issue is the statement in your article It's an example of real AI being genuinely and practically useful' - politicians and journalists love this acronym 'AI' - in reality, it does not exist, and according to my colleagues at Sci-Tech Daresbury, 'real' AI is decades away from reality. One of my colleagues recently made this statement 'So-called AI is merely machine learning technology. Real AI is when a computer system can actually create information entirely from scratch, not just crawl the Internet and sling data together' -

UK aims to fix government IT with help from AI Humphrey

Taking a look back over the past 20+ years of large-scale government computer and data projects handed to consulting practices such as Accenture, Capgemini and others, I believe we will see the same result from this 'Humphrey' project. The NHS 'digitisation' project known as the National Programme for IT (NPfIT), was a total fiasco, and cost the UK taxpayers a staggering £10 billion pounds and disappeared down the wazoo. The reason?

The programme began in 2002 under the Labour government, aiming to create a centralised electronic care records system and modernise IT infrastructure across the NHS. The initiative was officially dismantled in 2011, after almost a decade of implementation issues, technical failures, and criticism.

The NPfIT is widely regarded as one of the largest and most expensive IT failures in UK history. It faced challenges such as lack of user engagement, poorly defined goals, and unrealistic expectations about the complexity of integrating diverse NHS systems. I believe the odds of this crackpot initiative will result in the same, sad and inconclusive state. Many years ago, as a project director for a top-secret military project, I learned a valuable lesson from one of my team. This was, that the client and the consulting practice never spent sufficient time to discuss the real situation and the practical solution with the individuals at 'the coalface.' Instead, vast amounts of hard-earned taxpayers' money was squandered on pointless reviews with clients who had not even a shred of understanding of how the existing system worked. This, Sir Humphrey, is exactly what will happen here too.

Tesla recalls 239,382 vehicles over rearview camera problems

Isn't it fascinating that the Emperor of the Universe (so he believes), Elon Musk, demanded that Tesla vehicles should be equipped with cameras, which have already proven many times to be inaccurate, misleading and resulting in unpleasant deaths and injuries, when Lidar is far superior, more accurate and faster to react to even small obstacles.

UK floats ransomware payout ban for public sector

Taking into account the abject security failures in both government and private organisations in the UK by Ransomware morons, there is no way on Earth that any of them will be able to defend themselves against Ransomware, or for that matter, any 'smart' zero-day exploits and other malware I have spent over 40 years in the online security environment and can confidently state that the majority of these organisations not only lack the skills and expertise to mitigate such attacks. Many CISOs of such organisations are not even aware that they have already been hacked and don't even know it. What's always hilarious are statements from totally ignorant politicians which may sound good, but are totally without value.

UK unveils plans to mainline AI into the veins of the nation

According to my colleagues at The Hartree Centre at Sci-Tech Daresbury (one of the world's leading computing centres), the acronym 'AI' is misleading. The reality is that it is merely enhanced machine learning. Real AI requires the ability to create - something these current engines cannot achieve. It's a great wheeze for politicians (who know nothing at all about the subject) and likewise, journalists who lack the ability or will to fact check. 'Real' AI is at least 30 years away, despite the inaccurate and misleading hype.

US warns Iranian terrorist crew broke into 'multiple' US water facilities

This information is a sad example of the lackadaisical attitude that has been and still is prevalent with utility companies in the USA, UK and most if not all of Europe. Back in 2009, a colleague of mine and I met with a scientist from EPRI in San Francisco. He confirmed then that there was no meaningful cyber security protection from power generation right through to the distribution network. As far as I am aware, little if anything had changed and this weakness across the water, gas and oil, electricity and most organizations is still evident. It can't be a lack of potential applications to combat exploits. It has to be a lack of action, effort and will on behalf of the management of these companies. Bombs and other destructive devices are no longer needed to paralyze a nation. Coordinated Zero Day attacks on all of them would bring any nation to its knees without a shot being fired. When will they learn? Perhaps we will hear this well-worn phrase after an attack "lessons must be learned" - but then it may be too late.

FAA to airlines: 5G-sensitive radio altimeters have to go

This is really silly. Just prevent people using 5G on flights. Simple.

Rock reboot and the Welsh windy wonder: Centre for Alternative Technology

Wow - no wonder we have an energy crisis. According to this article there is "an exercise bike where you can try to generate the 50kW needed to run a personal computer" I'm glad my personal computer doesn't demand 50kW to work, I would have to ask the power company to lay down some big pipes to feed my house....

Ofcom coverage map: 7/10 – must try harder next time

If the mobile phone companies spent a fraction of the money they waste on marketing to add new base stations (or high powered versions of Vodafone's SureSignal for example), the UK would benefit from good coverage. We have had mobile phone 'service' in this country since 1986 and it's still abysmal. Just go across the water to the Nordic region, France, Holland or Germany and you will see how much better service is. Simply put, the mobile phone companies in the UK don't give a damn about the subscribers - in the rural area service is a myth.