Paul Stenhouse: US 911 call centres turn to AI for help, Uncaged works to make fake leather smell like real leather - Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

Understaffed 911 call centres are turning to AI to help  

911 callers come with some of the most urgent and serious issues, most of the time. But people also, stupidly, call 911 for noise complaints, lost wallets, and more. People see 911 as the way to reach the police.   

This means the operators are run off their feet dealing with all sorts of nonsense. Now there's a startup training its AI agents on 911 calls to help triage and get humans on the more important calls. It's being used in around a dozen call centres today.   

But can you imagine hearing, "I'm sorry, but I didn't quite understand you... can you say it again... police? Fire? Ambulance?" How do you feel about this one?  

Tech is helping make fake leather smell like real leather  

The company, Uncaged, says they can create a durable, animal and climate-friendly material that feels and even smells like leather. Hyundai has partnered with the company to test it for its cars and trucks and joins Jaguar Land Rover on their client list. A car can take anywhere from two to 14 cowhides to do the interior, delivering a carbon footprint 95% lower than that of leather. The automakers need it to be able to withstand hot temperatures for 500 hours, which can be a challenge for non-leather.  

Companies have been trying this for years – Apple moved away from leather cases for iPhones to a material called "FineWoven" that didn't hold up, and they've subsequently discontinued.  

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