COTC - 22 Dec 2025 - AI in the sewer?

0:00 Good morning, Northern Michigan. This is Cup of Traverse City for the 12/22/2025. I'm Mike, and happy Monday. Now let's get to the weather. Rain and snow likely before 2PM. Chance of rain between two and four and a chance of snow after 4PM. Cloudy with a high near 37. South winds, five to 10 miles per hour. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation less than one half of an inch possible. They kinda did that yesterday. It was just a little dusting here and there. Tonight, a chance of snow before 10PM, a chance of rain, cloudy with low around 31, south wind around 25, chance precipitation is 40%, and tomorrow's partly sunny with a high near 39.

0:53 So we're melting down again. West wind, five to 10 miles per hour. And, you know, the prediction for, Christmas day is, 40 degrees. So we're gonna have a white ish Christmas around here. Not a huge deal. And I read a story over on UpNorth live that, made me scratch my head a little bit. It's a the headline is Traverse City launches an AI driven sewer evaluation. Now I get it. AI is kinda everywhere. You know, I use it a little bit here and there for things it's good at, things some things it's not good at.

1:35 But for a sewer evaluation, it's crazy. You know? They're conducting a survey of all the sewer pipes, around Traverse City. You know? We're we're on city here, even though I'm in the county and not in the city, but certain areas close to the city are also on municipal sewer and water and whatnot. But, yeah, they're so they ran a bunch of, cameras through, you know, a lot of the sewer lines. Sounds like a fun job. But, they're letting AI evaluate the piping. It's you know, again, you know, is AI necessary?

2:15 You know, we have a, oh, a a a payroll system for work, and it's a it's a service that, you know, where employees go in and they punch in, punch out, and, you know, keep track of their time and expenses and whatnot. And now on there, there's a pop up every time you go in there. Try our AI. What do you need AI for? For you know, you're just straight down times. I mean, come on. You know, as I was complaining about Friday, my security cameras. Now, you know, after I get through the gauntlet of ads to get to look at my own cameras that I bought, I also have, another pop up says try our AI. You know, everything is just popping up. AI, AI, AI, AI. Well, AI is good at certain things, but it doesn't need to be everywhere.

3:10 And, you know, I don't know. Maybe it's a good thing, for the city to do that with their sewer pipes, but it just seemed a little funny to me that, they needed AI to tell them if their sewer pipes are clogging up or or cracking or or whatever the the case may be. Anyway, it's interesting story. There is a video also. I'll have a link in the show notes over at cupoftrevorcity.com. I hope everybody's got all their Christmas shopping done and all that. I I tell you, Saturday, it was a madhouse just about everywhere I went, and it wasn't even Christmas shopping. I was just doing normal, you know, errands and whatnot. And, oh my gosh, it was, it was crazy.

3:58 Although I have to give it to, Costco. I went over to Costco. We get certain things just at Costco. And, you know, you should never go there on a Saturday, but, I did. And especially this close to Christmas and all everybody's Christmas shopping and whatnot. And the line was almost to the back of the store for the, self checkout, but here's a key, hack at Costco, at least in Traverse City. You get in the other line. Get in the, the cashier line. The cashier line moves a lot faster, and it's usually a lot shorter. Everybody wants to do self checkout. I I went to the other line and but, you know, I have to give it to them. They are amazingly fast through both, you know, both lines.

4:43 They have people right there to help you out, and, it's it's impressive, how much they can get through. Kinda like Chick fil A, you know, if you ever go there at a busy time, they whip through, that backup very well. So certain companies do have, good, good service like that and are used to the to the busy. Anyway, I'll let you get on with your Monday. This has been Mike, and we'll see you tomorrow.