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Intelligent Satellite Notices Volcanic Activity
Dik Zak points us to this NASA page about a new generation of intelligent Earth observation satellites. From the article: "The Indonesian volcano Talang on the island of Sumatra had been dormant for centuries when, in April 2005, it suddenly rumbled to life. A plume of smoke rose 1000 meters high and nearby villages were covered in ash. Fearing a major eruption, local authorities began evacuating 40,000 people. UN officials, meanwhile, issued a call for help: Volcanologists should begin monitoring Talang at once. Little did they know that, high above Earth, a small satellite was already watching the volcano. No one had told it to. EO-1 (short for "Earth Observing 1") noticed the warning signs and started monitoring Talang on its own. Indeed, by the time many volcanologists were reading their emails from the UN, 'EO-1 already had data,' says Steve Chien, leader of JPL's Artificial Intelligence Group."
You mean where Kirk is getting old fast and talking to that blonde chick?? :P
Which was my point, but thanks for spelling it out so people don't have to think for themselves.
The US doesn't really like to tell which satellites are designed for that particular mission, but they do like to point out the capability by using them for other semi-related things. In this case, the US says "we have a satellite that can detect fires, and its even 'smart' about it" and while the idiots say "hey spiffy, they can see fires" other countries get the message "it can spot launches, and record information on them, without people on the ground telling it what to do". In the past the US has sent similar messages to the former USSR by doing things like using ground-penetrating radar to map underwater rivers. The message wasn't "hey, here's a river" it was "hey, don't bother trying to hide your missile silos, we can still find them".
I'll agree its not really AI -- but it makes a nice "hook" to point out capabilites and make sure it gets into the press.