{
  "id": 13451872,
  "title": "My app accused the rain of being a car.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/10/my-app-accused-the-rain-of-being-a-car",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-10T15:54:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/phantom8420/my-app-accused-the-rain-of-being-a-car-touching-grass-is-a-myth-3i68"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An app, Proof of Grass, has accused rain of being a car, according to a user who tested it. The app, which runs offline on a laptop, uses an open bird-sound model called Perch 2.0 to analyze sounds and determine if they are human-made or not. When tested on 560 clips, the app identified 85 out of 140 weather clips as human-made, including rain, which it deemed to sound like a vehicle.\n\nThe user added a \"nature, but nothing alive\" verdict to the app, tuning it on a portion of the data and checking its accuracy on the rest. To their surprise, the app did not accuse any weather clips of being human-made, even when it was outside, walking with birds and traffic. The user noted that the model scored 2.5 when exposed to both, just below the pass mark of 3.\n\nHowever, the app refused to certify the user, despite the user going outside and experiencing real grass. The user realized that the test might not remain inconclusive forever and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to learn, even if even the Declaration of Independence was reportedly AI-generated. The user shared the code and audio clips of the tests on GitHub, encouraging others to explore and improve the model.",
  "summary": "How do you prove to someone that you actually touched grass? I guess the bigger question is out of everything going on how is \"if i touched grass\" still the biggest argument we are having? No more. (Argument, not going outside (well maybe)). Proof of Grass listens to a few seconds of audio with Perch 2.0, an open bird-sound model that runs offline on your laptop. If it hears something alive, you…",
  "key_points": [
    "App \"Proof of Grass\" accuses rain of being a car",
    "Offline app uses Perch 2.0 model to analyze sounds",
    "Rain identified as human-made, scoring below pass mark"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}