• The French government is successfully employing artificial intelligence to identify taxable swimming pools.
• They have discovered 20,356 unregistered swimming pools so far. The government has utilized the data to collect about €10 million in additional taxes.

Capgemini collaborated with Google to develop the AI, which analyzes aerial pictures taken by France’s National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information, finds pools, and then compares them to national tax and property records. With this technology, the French government is effectively employing artificial intelligence to identify taxable swimming pools.

AI identifies more than 20,000 unregistered pools

The group has so far discovered 20,356 unregistered swimming pools. The government has utilized the data to collect about €10 million in additional taxes.

Despite its effectiveness, the idea has only been implemented in nine of France’s 96 metro districts. If a comparable number of unregistered swimming pools are discovered in France’s other metro regions, an additional 196,774 might be discovered, potentially generating an additional €96.6 million.

France has estimated to have roughly 3.2 million private swimming pools in 2020. This figure is claimed to have increased owing to COVID-19 lockdowns and high temperatures.

Droughts have been declared in numerous regions of Europe due to a scorching summer and a lack of rainfall. The Loire River in France has achieved a record low water level, allowing people to walk from one bank to another.

Private pool ownership has come under assault during severe droughts. A member of the French green party Europe Écologie Les Verts, recently made news for refusing to rule out a ban on installing new private pools.

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An early version of the pool-spotting artificial intelligence had a 30 percent mistake rate and misidentified other architectural components like solar panels as swimming pools. These issues have since been resolved.

The new AI might be used for more than swimming pools

The Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP) of France’s tax authority now intends to roll out the AI across the remaining metro regions and even expand it to detect additional unreported private modifications such as extensions.

Antoine Magnant, Deputy Director General of Public Finances, told Le Parisien that; “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.”