Writes Althea and Arhs, LUDCI.eu Editorial team
Disaster strikes suddenly and without warning. But signs are always there – you simply need to see them. Early warning of natural, political, and other disasters is crucial in developing methods to prevent or control their escalation.
Local, state and national media are a barometer for environmental, political, humanitarian, and other issues. It is their duty to impartially inform the public of what is going on. As such, they can create broadcasts, articles, and online information about conflicts long before they start to support early warning processes.
In parallel, Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool for early warning. Its ability to shift through terabytes of data in a blink and predict outcomes and scenarios is invaluable. If AI is now linked with media and vice versa, the outcome can surely prevent several disasters.
Natural disasters happen everywhere in the world. Often, there is no time to prepare before they hit. Even when there is advance notice, it is difficult to estimate the impact on a city, region, or economy.
News reports can keep the populace aware of hurricanes, thunderstorms that become tornadoes, floods, etc. The warning can be hours or days, but news reports are reactive to known information. They need to see the weather maps, etc. to determine what might happen.
Artificial intelligence is used to help predict possible scenarios and likelihoods faster than traditional systems. Flooding in areas such as Indonesia can be devastating to communities. It can take out entire towns and leave behind families without shelter and clean water.
Scientists can now go to these regions and gather data. Using AI, they can develop simulations and scenarios to predict when floods will happen and how it will impact the area. Such simulations can indeed happen with any form of natural disasters. For instance, according to Forbes, one recently proposed system involves using AI to analyse CCTV footage in real-time to identify emergencies, such as natural disasters and sound the alarm within buildings. If such emergencies can be identified, they can also be broadcasted to warn people and save lives.
AI can also help determine hotspots for virus spread and other statistics. “On one hand, the world is rapidly changing, where diseases are emerging and spreading faster. On the other hand, we happen to have growing access to data we can use…to generate insights and spread them faster than the diseases spread themselves,” BlueDot founder Kamran Khan told the Canadian Press.
The same was the case with COVID – despite the outbreak and its escalation, a number of scientists started looking at artificial intelligence and how they could prevent any further outbreaks. Such research had limited broadcasting on TV to make the public aware of how this research could help if only the necessary investments were raised. Instead, we have been bombarded of all the innovations brought in by the pharmaceutical companies, to develop the miracle drug – meanwhile, is on the rise, and a lot many of the elderly will not have the means to buy such medicine. Still, we are investing in finding the miracle cure and not directing some of these investments on Research and Development practices on the AI front.
In parallel, Social media is instantaneous information delivery. Onlookers post or stream videos as incidents happen. In fact, Artificial intelligence systems can help to monitor the social media spectrum from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and TikTok with the necessary metrics created to filter the right information.
For instance, filtering can result in finding posts, videos, and pictures that may be the beginning of civil or political unrest. Such information would allow officials to prepare a proper response to de-escalate the situation before it becomes a major problem that would require more stakeholders to intervene, which would delay a timely reaction given that consensus would need to be reached in the first place.
“With the rise of social media, it’s definitely a lot easier for people to mobilise more quickly and you don’t necessarily need to have one charismatic leader like Dr. King, who had almost some kind of magical quality,” Rachel Einwohner, a Purdue University sociology professor told the Associated Press. “But you still do need some powerful message that really resonates with a lot of people.” When this happens, this will create the necessary pressure that will also create a chain effect of reactions, resulting in timelier decision-making.
Social media when linked with traditional media can be an invaluable early warning system as they can report in common on minor incidents that gradually and usually turn into larger problems. When you put the power of AI and media together, it can predict and create simulations of potential unrest, discover manipulated pictures, deep-fake videos, and develop the best methods to resolve the problem, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.
Conclusion:
AI and Media Powered Early Warning Systems can save Lives. Every life on Earth is precious and deserves protection. When AI evolves to the point where it can accurately predict natural disasters and unrest, it will save lives. When AI and the media join forces, then the impact created can assure the security everyone needs.
