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Ask HN: Anyone pursuing this AI image idea (images to list of insured losses)?

by mgav on 2/7/25, 1:26 PM with 15 comments

The idea is for AI to interpret photos and videos and create a detailed and accurate list of exactly what was lost, so claimants can collect the full value of their insured losses.

Excerpt: “…Losing one’s home in a fire is devastating, with the first priority being to find somewhere to live. The trauma is then compounded by the onerous requirement of most insurance carriers to submit an exhaustive list of lost belongings — “with line items as specific as the number and brand of toothbrushes in a bathroom,” according to a report about unfair insurance practices.…”

Link to article: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/realestate/altadena-la-fi...

Thanks @codingdave for suggesting this as an "Ask HN" post (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42972221).

  • by zarekr on 2/8/25, 9:46 AM

    I had a client doing this in 2016. It was ancillary to their main business which was matching movers with homeowners. They eventually pivoted into an insurtech offering using computer vision models to do what you’re suggesting, collecting the data at the point of moving by using the movers to do the “heavy lifting” of scanning the items. They ended up being insurance intermediaries before folding so I’m not sure how valuable the idea is. Maybe things are different now.

  • by daemonologist on 2/11/25, 5:10 AM

    We (ML team) were brought in to talk to some folks at our sister company about this possibility. Our conclusion was basically that expectations were way too high - as mentioned in your quote they wanted a specific brand, model, and price for every item (from a grainy photo of a charred object, out of a scraped database of millions of items, with a correct hit in the top three or four results). Frankly I don't know how/if even the expert human appraisers manage it.

    If you could achieve those results, it would be tremendously valuable. But I think you'd need a research team and ~~five~~ many years.

  • by fudged71 on 2/11/25, 7:35 AM

    Oh I've been thinking about this a lot, from a different perspective.

    Now that we can get highly detailed Gaussian Splats to represent spaces in 3D, there has been great work to do segmentation of these datasets. Theres a lot of momentum behind both of these ideas.

    The technology is very nearly there, such that you could scan your home from your phone, and get a detailed segmented map of everything you own.

    I believe I've also seen someone take a video and input it into Gemini and ask for a list of all the products. Some combination of these ideas really.

  • by reportgunner on 2/11/25, 2:04 PM

    Sounds not realistic. Imagine you have this list, how do you know it's complete? What if it's not complete and you think it's complete and you only find out something was missing when it was too late?

    edit: You might as well work on software that keeps a list of everything you ever owned so you can just whip it out once your house burns down.

  • by 42lux on 2/11/25, 10:23 AM

    You can just write a gpt wrapper that is really bad for the job and get some seed money I guess.

  • by ysofunny on 2/11/25, 2:56 PM

    completing the absurdity of this:

    an AI assistant that tells you what is in the picture as voice, so you can rest your eyes....

    ...hold on, that may actually be pretty useful for blind people

  • by DITNUV on 2/13/25, 11:33 AM

    Lmaooooooo(on)

  • by aaron695 on 2/7/25, 1:56 PM

    It's certainly a brilliant app if it existed.

    I'd suggest the decluttering movement, inventory, allergens, tracking lost stuff, would also find it a useful tool.

    Decluttering passes Larry Page's "toothbrush test" FWIW

    Sorry, can't answer your question.

  • by beretguy on 2/7/25, 2:28 PM

    AI should not be used for anything that requires accuracy.