AI to support 911 operators

Generative AI’s applicable explosion has now had its innovative capabilities brought to the aid of 911 emergency operators.

North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT911) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are collaborating to showcase this brand-new purpose for the emerging technology.

Using the seminal chatbot ChatGPT, this project is leveraging AI to analyse calls fielded by operators and flag when an operator has had repeated conversations with tragic content.

This is achieved by monitoring these calls for keywords and analysing the tone of a caller, then aggregating whether a call was especially stressful.

Mental health concerns

The daily tasks of an emergency operator are mentally exhausting, to say the least. Often acting in support of persons suffering all manner of tragedies.

Understaffing is also a key issue that these developments could also support, with an insufficient workforce burnout is an even harsher reality faced by 911 call respondents.

This line of work in particular poses a particularly concerning context for burnout as the need for composure, efficiency and effectiveness is of incredible importance, which is why this type of support may be vital in supporting these workers.

NCT911’s director, Christy Williams stated on the matter:

People are at the forefront of 911, and our 911 telecommunicators, the people who answer the calls, are such valuable assets, but we’re putting them in a bad situation on a daily basis.”

Williams continues,

They are communicating with people in the worst moments of their lives, and they are in situations that don’t end well and are very traumatic.”

Other AI platforms in use

Williams also pointed to numerous other AI platforms that have already been used by her colleagues to shave off response times and in all likelihood save lives.

Platforms such as ones that translate foreign languages in an exponential amount of time have been and according to Williams should continue to be embraced, stressing the continued importance of a variety of different AI tools she stated:

I feel like this is going to be a game changer for retaining employees.”

Support or replace?

The exceptionally centred approach being proliferated in this instance is quite a refreshing endeavour in numerous ways, not least the aspect of retaining and supporting human staff as opposed to attempting to replace them with AI platforms.

While it is true this may be a significantly particular case, the fact it is being considered at all poses a positive prospect for anyone who wishes to embrace AI to become more effective at a job that should be deemed necessary for human participation.