California is planning to deploy generative AI tools across major highways an effort to resolve its longstanding issues of traffic jams and improve road safety.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last Thursday that the state has partnered with five AI firms to develop tools aimed to "end the roadway crisis and reach our goal of zero traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2050."
In addition to easing traffic congestion, Newsom hinted that the AI may also be used to improve customer services for tax filing guides and help non-native English speakers on government websites.
Among the AI firms partnered named were OpenAI and the Amazon-backed Anthropic.
Each company will reportedly be given $1 to test their technologies in a secured and isolated "sandbox" for six months before being piloted to public use.
The Los Angeles Times has earlier reported the California Transportation Department's plans to tap into generative AI back in January amid the governmental push to catch up with Silicon Valley's innovations.
California Looks for Alternative Solutions to Traffic Problem
In the 2023 Traffic Index, California is the only state to have two cities that made it to the top 10 places with the worst traffic in the US with Los Angeles placing ninth and San Francisco in the top three.
Only New York City and Washington, D.C. are the only cities recorded with worse traffic jams and carbon emissions than the Golden State.
The state government's previous efforts to ease congestion, including road widening projects, have so far had only worsened traffic in major cities and highways.
The transition towards AI can be seen as the state's newest plan to address the longstanding issue through alternative methods and technologies.
California Taps into AI to Address Longstanding Social Issues
Improving traffic jams, road safety, and government services are not the only social problems California seems to be looking for a chance to apply AI.
Los Angeles was earlier reported to be looking to use AI to map out which families are at risk of becoming homeless.
According to CNBC News, the city's Homelessness Prevention Program will use a predictive AI to offer help to financially vulnerable individuals in advance.
The initiative is being touted as one of the city's newest efforts to solve the growing number of homeless people in the city.
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