France taxman deploys AI spy to spot hidden swimming pools

An employee starts to line a swimming pool during its construction in France. Developed by Google and Capgemini, the AI software learned how to spot pools on aerial images of nine French departments during a trial run last year, which were then cross-checked with land registry databases. — AFP

PARIS: France’s tax authority said on Aug 29 that a new artificial intelligence system had found thousands of undeclared swimming pools, allowing it to collect millions of euros from homeowners who failed to report the facilities.

Developed by Google and Capgemini, the AI software learned how to spot pools on aerial images of nine French departments during a trial run last year, which were then cross-checked with land registry databases.