“Wide-view surveillance cameras, from highway traffic cams to ski-area webcams, are not new; Alert California’s origins go back 25 years. But now, injected with the latest technology and placed in our most remote locations, these systems are increasingly the clearest eyes on today’s worsening disasters…

Artificial intelligence, introduced to the system in 2023, is a growing part of surveillance. Dr. Driscoll said this summer that 51 percent of California wildfires are first spotted through A.I. and the ratio is growing quickly.”

From New York Times.