AI usage in disaster management needs legal framework: UNDRR official

Addressing a session at the AI Impact Summit, UNDRR official said India has done a lot of work in using AI predictive analysis in disaster management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a vital role in disaster management, specially in minimising losses but it would need legal and policy framework for such new age technologies to be able to be relied upon by officials at ground level who would take decisions for preventive actions, a top official of UNDRR said on Monday.

Addressing a session at the AI Impact Summit, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Chief Intergovernmental Interagency cooperation and Partnerships Branch Sujit Mohanty said India has done a lot of work in using AI predictive analysis in disaster management.

"This whole technology space is really growing well, growing fast... You are seeing solutions which were not possible earlier...," he said, citing the usage of AI in predicting and analysing the risk disasters.

However, he said, "At the same time, I think we should be mindful that, at the end of the day, is it really helping those who are there to make decision of people's life and their livelihood, their economic assets, to make those decisions to really, see that's (damage due to disasters) been reduced?"  While AI has a lot of potential in terms of the solutions and a lot of "brilliant apps are coming up", Mohanty said, "But how do you scale it? How do you bring it to those who are making the decision like the district magistrate sitting in a district where he has to make a decision on when to evacuate, how many to evacuate, where to evacuate, and all based on what?"  Although there are apps, but a district collector or a district magistrate cannot just go on to any app and make a decision based on these unless there is legal backup and enabling policies.

"Unless that is done, those... glorious apps will sit there as dashboards, and those who are making those key decisions will not be able to do that," Mohanty asserted.

He, however, said India has shown a lot in terms of using AI in disaster management, citing example of India Meteorological Department using AI for predictive analysis.

"But there are also countries that will not be able to do that," he said, adding that India's frugal AI can be taken to other countries to support them.

Mohanty noted that globally there is a loss of about $200 billion every year due to disasters.

Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority Vice Chairman V K Sharma said many governments, including the Government of India, have already accepted the kind of changes due to the development of new technologies.

Earlier, the focus was on relief but now new technologies have enabled accurate predictions that have helped minimise damage, he added.