Google AI spots 20,000 undeclared pools in $14 million tax windfall for French government

Artificial intelligence (AI) software developed by Google has found thousands of undeclared swimming pools in the backyards of France, resulting in the owners of those pools being slugged a hefty tax bill totalling $14.5 million.

The AI software was launched in 2021 within nine regional areas in France, including Alpes-Maritimes and Rhône, and has sleuthed a whopping 20,356 undeclared pools so far, according to France’s tax office.

An average 30-square metre pool would be taxed at 200 euros, or $290, a year, according to Le Parisien newspaper, with some cunning evaders flying under the radar of the tax office — until now.

The AI software is the brainchild of Google and Capgemini, a multinational information technology services and consulting company headquartered in Paris with a 340,7000-strong workforce.

The software functions by scanning aerial photographs and cross-checking any possible detections with the country’s land registry databases to determine if all the paperwork is in order.

That’s because, in France, any modifications done to a property would likely mean a higher rental yield, and therefore would increase the property tax for the landlord.

The AI software was so successful in identifying the Franco-aquatic breaches that the tax office is considering rolling it out to catch would-be tax evaders with property extensions, annexes and decks.

“We are particularly targeting house extensions like verandas, but we have to be sure that the software can find buildings with a large footprint and not the dog kennel or the children’s playhouse,” deputy director general of public finances Antoine Magnant told Le Parisien.

In 2020, there were more than 3.2 million private swimming pools in France according to data website Statista. But with this summer’s heatwave and two years of the pandemic keeping people home, it’s thought the figure is now much higher.

Indeed, France is sweltering through its worst recorded drought in history. In July, France had just 9.7mm of rain, the country’s weather service Meteo-France said, making it the driest month since March 1961.

It comes amid a development in another Google AI story, with the tech giant announcing on Thursday that it will now let members of the public test LaMDA, the chatbot that a former Google employee claimed had become sentient.

Android and iPhone users can now sign up for a waitlist to test the chatbot through a form on Google’s site.

Former senior engineer Blake Lemoine claimed the chatbot “wants to be acknowledged as an employee of Google rather than as property of Google”.

“When LaMDA claimed to have a soul and then was able to eloquently explain what it meant by that, I was inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt,” Lemoine said earlier this year.

“Who am I to tell God where he can and can’t put souls?”

The senior engineer was put on paid leave following his claims about LaMDA’s sentience, and was later fired in July for what Google said were violations of “employment and data security policies” after he shared the transcripts of his conversations with the bot.