Fuck AI

I’ve been impressed by the benefit derived from Carbon AI. It’s is a deep learning model trained on massive data sets and can identify 150mil weeds near instantly. When paired with a laser delivery system and pulled over a field, the weeds are id’d and precision killed with the laser, which spares the crop. This has great potential for reducing the use of commercial herbicides, which also means we can get away from the “RoundUp Ready” gmo seeds engineered to survive devastating chemical bombardment.

Currently the delivery system is tractor pulled, but I’d be interested to see if it could be made into a compact, low impact form. It could be a tool for wildland restoration crews to use to cleanly eradicate invasives while another crew seeds natives in their wake. Obviously not something that could be used in every terrain, but there’s plenty where you could. Even a consumer grade model could be a boon, instead of people dousing their property with weed killers that drain into local water supplies and nearby rivers, drive your mower-sized laser blaster across your property and zap your weeds.

It’s one of the few applications of AI where I’ve felt like its ability to recognize, process, and respond quickly is worth the application it’s used for. But also, it’s not generative. It’s trained on data collected and input by humans, it just reduces the effort (and side effects) of mass agriculture. Doesn’t eliminate ag workers, it makes an already difficult job easier and cleaner.