AI to remind workers to wash hands
The Montreal General is reported to be planning to install an AI in its bathrooms which will remind workers to wash their hands.
-
Kate
Reply
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- SMD on Duluth Street enforces early closing time
- DeWolf on Police forces to fight extortion
- DeWolf on Duluth Street enforces early closing time
- Kate on Duluth Street enforces early closing time
- Chris on Duluth Street enforces early closing time
- Jim on Montreal most expensive town in Quebec
- jeather on Montreal most expensive town in Quebec
Pages
Other levels of gov’t
Sideblog projects
Enviro Montreal is a Bluesky feed that follows local environment news. Also available on Mastodon.
Archives
Pages rescued from montreal.com
Meta
MarcG 10:39 on 2026-04-29 Permalink
Won’t be long before it becomes a background noise that is just as easily ignored as any other reminder-without-consequence.
Joey 10:47 on 2026-04-29 Permalink
I was pretty cynical about this until I read that it seems to have worked really well in Ottawa:
L’outil s’est avéré efficace à l’Hôpital d’Ottawa. Dans une unité d’essai, les soignants ont été près de 19 % plus nombreux à se laver les mains adéquatement après son implantation en 2023, indique le centre hospitalier. En 15 mois, les éclosions ont diminué de plus de 90 %, précise-t-il.
MarcG 10:54 on 2026-04-29 Permalink
I spoke before reading the article – this is way more than an audio reminder in the bathrooms. Video here https://vimeo.com/1125186766.
Uatu 18:22 on 2026-04-29 Permalink
The IR scan makes it look like handwashing is being enforced by the Predator lol.
Also I wonder if it’ll evolve to tell you to wash up after touching your phone because according to our training session from infection control cell phones are apparently rife with fecal matter.
bob 18:46 on 2026-04-29 Permalink
And this, friends, is why the AI “bubble” will not burst. First, you can replace an “employees must wash hands” sign with a scanning IR 3D laser used in autonomous mobile robotics mated to a neural network trained on the dynamics of hygeine, and second, you can get the goods on employees who need the reminding. This is not a reminder, it is enforcement, and the enforcement goes well beyond no-brainers like hand washing.
bob 18:49 on 2026-04-29 Permalink
It will evolve to tell you to report to a disciplinary meeting, where you will be fired and replaced with a Roomba.
dhomas 10:23 on 2026-04-30 Permalink
I’ve worked in IT for a while. IMO, the AI “bubble” will likely burst at some point. There’s just too much money being invested (gambled) and only so much possible revenue. Compare it to the dot com bubble. Some companies will eventually go bust; some will lose market cap; others will thrive. But AI will not go away, just like the internet did not.
This particular application of AI seems to be a good use for it. I like to see these kinds of projects. It’s much more pleasant than the “let’s turn the world into a giant surveillance state” type projects (I’m looking at you, Palantir).