In 2023, artificial intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm, and a variety of rapidly improved text language models have been made available to the public. Since then, humanity has delved into the strange and wild world of AI and faced some pressing questions. How can I trust content I find online? Is my self-driving car plotting world domination? Will my toaster cause a midlife crisis?
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District also faces some of these issues, as today’s world sees encounters with backhoes, bulldozers, and barges. AI is already being used in other fields such as healthcare, finance, education, automotive, disability services, and astronomy, so the future of AI could be in river navigation, flood mitigation, emergency management, and other Corps missions. The question is where it is.
For the uninitiated, AI is a broad term that applies to a variety of topics, but the most commonly referred to AI is machine learning. ML feeds large amounts of training data to software systems to learn patterns and model those patterns in decision-making.
There are generally two categories of AI: “strong” and “weak.” Powerful AI is a machine that, like humans, can solve problems for which it has not been trained. Strong AI is something you see in movies. Imagine a self-aware android. This technology doesn’t exist yet.
Weak AI operates within limited contexts for limited purposes, such as self-driving cars, conversational bots, and text-to-image simulators. What we see in his OpenAI tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E is weak AI, and the results can be quite good (as seen in this social media photo).
Disclaimer: Bieber has never provided technical advice to the Corps of Engineers.
This photo is artificially generated. (Photo provided by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
…but that’s all you can do.
Indeed, AI is a natural progression of technology. What began with search engines continues through digital integration, and organizations like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District are wondering how to manage AI’s detractors while seizing AI’s opportunities to better serve the public. We are evaluating whether it can be alleviated.
The Corps of Engineers is a civil engineering agency and has had some involvement in technological innovation throughout its nearly 250-year history. Although the Corps was not responsible for the most important scientific discoveries, he built the K-25 factory (built in 1942, the largest building in history) for the Manhattan Project. Then in the 1960s he helped build and design NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center.
Historic photo of the K-25 Gas Diffusion Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, built to aid in the production and concealment of atomic bombs during World War II. Disguised as the “District of Manhattan,” the district was established in 1942 without geographic boundaries to keep the project secret. Instead, the Manhattan area had his three main project sites: Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington. and Los Alamos, New Mexico. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)
Source: https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Military-Construction-Combat/113-Atomic-Bomb/
Coincidentally, Cape Canaveral’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) was completed in 1966, making it the largest building in the world at the time. This historic photo shows the construction of his VAB, which was 525 feet tall and once covered nearly 8 acres. It was completed. The VAB will remain the final assembly site for the Shuttle Orbiter, external fuel tanks, and twin solid rocket boosters prior to Shuttle launch. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo)
sauce: https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Historical-Vignettes/Military-Construction-Combat/050-NASA/
However, this does not mean that the Corps is always at the forefront of modern technology. A proven method that has stood the test of time, as well as the area’s 23 locks and dams on the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers, some of which predate him by more than a century. does not necessarily mean you need to upgrade to sluice right away. Next model.
For example, Allegheny River Lock 5 in Freeport, Pennsylvania, began operation in 1927 and installed an improved hydraulic system in 2023 to improve resiliency. Operators use the touchscreen to manage the hydraulic system.
Lockmaster James Burford of Allegheny River Locks 4-9 demonstrates how the old hydraulic system works at Allegheny River Lock 6 on September 18, 2023 in Freeport, Pennsylvania. The system used a single hydraulic system and required manual operation to open the floodgates. Lock the gate. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District photo by Andrew Byrne)
The older system of Allegheny River Lock 6 shown here included a single hydraulic system operated manually by a lever located along the lock wall.
Interesting fact: Lock 5 was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Allegheny River Lock Manager Anthony Self closes the lock gate at Allegheny River Lock 5 on September 19, 2023 in Freeport, Pennsylvania. The lock began operation in 1927, but an improved hydraulic system was installed in 2023 to increase its resilience. Everything can be managed from the touchscreen. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Andrew Byrne)
“There’s a whole panel of valve indicators, and it’s like turning a dial,” said Allegheny River Lock Keeper Anthony Self, who has worked for the district since 2015. “He’s controlling eight valves at once to fill the chamber.” More precise control is now possible. ”
The next step is to implement remote lock operations. As part of the Lower Monongahela River Monong Construction Project, Charleroi Locks and Dam is assembling a control tower to consolidate the facility’s locking capabilities into one touchpoint.
A contractor sits at a remote lock operations desk during construction at the Charleroi Locks Dam on October 10, 2023 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania. As part of the Lower Monongahela River Monong construction project, Charleroi Locks Dam will consolidate the locking capabilities of the control tower assembly facility into a single touchpoint. (Photo provided by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
The district isn’t averse to other types of emerging technology either. The district’s geospatial office has been leveraging drone technology since the drones became generally available to map regional waterways aerially, conduct inspections, monitor construction, digital surface modeling, and more. Ta.
“It can also document harmful algal bloom infestations in reservoirs or fly in emergency response situations during floods,” said Juan Tran, a member of the Geospatial Agency’s flight team.
“We talk a lot about being a world-class organization, so your technology has to be the right one. You can’t keep up with someone else’s capabilities,” said the district’s geospatial section chief. Director Kristen Scott says.
Nevertheless, as AI opens up the digital world as the technological “next step,” school districts have not jumped on the AI ​​train…still.
Perhaps this is for the best – emerging technologies, well, urgent, And whether or not the corps carries out its mission correctly can mean the difference between life and death.
Let’s take flood damage mitigation as an example. The Pittsburgh area’s 16 flood risk management reservoirs have prevented more than $14 billion in flood damage across 26,000 square miles since their construction nearly a century ago. No matter how smart AI gets, the Corps will never rely solely on it to make decisions that affect people’s safety.
“It’s a powerful tool and a good thing, but it doesn’t mean we’re leaving decision-making and planning to automation,” said Al Corio, the district’s emergency management director.
Corio’s work is important. He works with FEMA to send teams and emergency generators to areas devastated by natural disasters and without power.
“We’ve reached data saturation now, and there’s no really good way to leverage data,” Corio said. “When I was a kid, if you wanted to learn something, you had to physically go to the library, unless you were from a wealthy family and had an encyclopedia. Nowadays, so much information is easily accessible. Now available.”
For Coglio, if deployed responsibly, AI can be a powerful tool beyond just districts, helping in the prediction, planning and preparedness stages of natural disasters.
“If you look at all the different types of disasters, like floods, tornadoes, historical weather events, historic weather-driven emergencies, I think automated intelligence will give us a better focus area.” said Corio. “Even when it comes to mapping the Pittsburgh floods, we have a general idea, but what does that mean for the average citizen? We are concerned about whether we can provide the details that intelligence needs to know.”
Despite the opportunities AI presents, some are skeptical about its place in the current cultural conversation.
“I think most people didn’t see the next ‘big thing’ before the next ‘big thing’ happened,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Tabacchi, the district’s deputy commander. “Are we lionizing it? Are we overestimating the impact and impact of AI? It’s hard to tell.”
“Again, I have never used this for anything other than to make my job easier,” Tabacchi added.
Bubbles, a water safety robot, dreams of one day becoming the next “big thing.”
This photo is artificially generated. (Photo provided by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
And for others in the district, the advent of AI will not bring any changes to their daily work. Although the use of AI always requires human supervision, some areas that require basic tasks, such as locking operations, are not applicable.
“Do you think artificial intelligence will ever replace lock operations? No, absolutely not,” said John Dilla, director of the district’s Locks and Dams chapter. . “It has the potential to enhance the data used for operations and maintenance, but requires minute-by-minute understanding and decisions between lock operators and boat crews that computers cannot do. People are irreplaceable. .”
Bubbles, a water safety robot, always wears a life jacket when out on the waterways.
This photo is artificially generated. (Photo provided by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)
In the future, school districts have the opportunity to leverage advances in technology while using artificial intelligence as a tool to better serve the region’s 5.5 million people.
But will the AI ​​itself agree?
Well, we asked one thing. It said:
“AI as a cutting-edge tool has the potential to significantly enhance the Pittsburgh Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to optimize infrastructure management and improve public service performance through data-driven decision-making, predictive modeling, and resource optimization. It leads to improvement and greater resilience in the face of challenges.”
The AI ​​seems to agree, but maybe it just wants us to. think I agree with that.