AI Can Help Emergency Management Teams With Limited Funds

A series of new reports examines the role AI plays in emergency management (EM) operations, barriers to adoption and how the technology can help offices with funding and other capacity limitations.AI technology can help EM officials predict, evaluate and simulate incidents for faster response times. It can help address fragmented response, proactively predict and detect disasters such as floods, wildfires and earthquakes, and even support staff in 911 dispatch centers.But most state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) governments’ EM offices are still in the earliest stages of AI adoption, according to new research.

The findings were revealed in three reports released this week. AI for Disasters and Emergencies: A Way Forward (Report 1) comes from the AI for Disasters and Emergencies (AIDE) Initiative of the Markle Foundation, in partnership with Aspen Digital and the nonprofit think tank RAND.Two related reports outline recommendations to support AI adoption in the EM sector: Practitioner Perspectives and the Potential of AI in Emergency Management (Report 2) by Aspen Digital, and AI and the Future of Emergency Management: Market Supply and Adoption Pathways (Report 3), by RAND. Report 1 synthesizes the research findings of the other two resources.EM teams face a significant challenge: limited capacity. First, staffing challenges exist — both in finding and retaining employees. Many smaller EM offices operate with one full-time staff member or fewer, relying heavily on part-time and volunteer personnel, according to Report 3.

Other key challenges include limited technical literacy among staff and insufficient funding. In fact, funding and staffing are consistently cited as the top barriers to AI product adoption in research on EM offices, SLTT governments and nonprofits, per the report.EM offices are not technology-averse. In fact, Report 3 said tools such as public alert and warning systems, GIS, social media platforms and virtual emergency operation centers are “widely accessible” for SLTT governments.“AI is the outlier,” the report said.

There are many AI solutions that are designed to support EM operations; Report 3 indicated that there are more than 1,000 products from more than 700 companies. However, of all the tools marketed for EM, 53 percent focus on response and 36 percent on recovery; only 12 percent target preparedness. And these products have another limitation: They often rely on Internet connectivity that may be interrupted in the case of a disaster.EM officials cited a need not for more data, but a way to help make those insights actionable, per Report 2, which said that participants from a range of jurisdictions revealed they saw the potential for AI to help project disaster impacts and “speed up sensemaking” to respond more quickly.As Report 1 said, “useful AI tools are emerging and emergency managers can identify impactful use cases, but many agencies lack the capacity and trust needed to use those tools responsibly.” Sustained, multisector partnerships are essential to helping EM organizations realize these benefits, according to Report 2.AIDE will now focus on convening the AIDE summit, launching an education program, developing an AIDE Playbook, supporting capacity-building pilots, advancing applied research, and forming an AIDE alliance.“One of the most important opportunities for AI is unlocking its capacity to serve the public good by helping communities become safer and more resilient,” Ellen V. Futter, president of the Markle Foundation, said in a statement.