New Orleans Will Use AI To Answer 911 Calls Instead of a Human (shreveporttimes.com) 74
"If you call 911 in New Orleans, you may hear the sound of an artificial intelligence (AI) agent answering your call instead of a human voice," reports the Shreveport Times:
The Orleans Parish Communication District (OPCD) is currently testing out the new tool designed to reduce the volume of calls human dispatchers must handle, which is over a thousand emergency calls a day.
New Orleans implemented AI in April to answer 311 calls for non-emergencies. The AI was trained and programmed to provide information to callers, as the OPCD says 50% of 311 calls are for information, according to GovTech. AI is now answering 911 emergency calls in Louisiana's largest city and one of the cities with the highest call rates in the U.S.
The OPCD is using Carbyne's AI Emergency Call Triage, with triage being the process of analyzing and prioritizing emergency calls. The AI system assesses incoming calls and can provide immediate feedback to callers. This is intended to handle the increase of calls that are related to one incident, so callers get automatically routed to an AI agent who asks if they are calling regarding the incident. If the answer is yes, then callers can receive information or updates, and if it's no, then the callers are transferred to a human. This combats multitudes of calls piling up and taking longer time to potentially answer an emergency call. The OPCD said the AI will not be used to handle emergency calls, only to direct such calls to a human dispatcher.
The OPCD is using Carbyne's AI Emergency Call Triage, with triage being the process of analyzing and prioritizing emergency calls. The AI system assesses incoming calls and can provide immediate feedback to callers. This is intended to handle the increase of calls that are related to one incident, so callers get automatically routed to an AI agent who asks if they are calling regarding the incident. If the answer is yes, then callers can receive information or updates, and if it's no, then the callers are transferred to a human. This combats multitudes of calls piling up and taking longer time to potentially answer an emergency call. The OPCD said the AI will not be used to handle emergency calls, only to direct such calls to a human dispatcher.
Well (Score:5, Insightful)
Who is going to take the responsibility when someone dies as a result of this?
Re:Well (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm pretty sure it won't be the CEO of Carbyne (the company providing the AI) - but we all knew that already.
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Who is going to take the responsibility when someone dies as a result of this?
No one, its the government, they have immunity.
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Yes, nobody has ever sued the government and won. Unheard of.
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They did, but in the before-times, prior to the collapse of the empire.
This could be done right . (Score:2, Funny)
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That's logical and practical, but unfortunately this is happening in Louisiana where logical and practical are outlawed.
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**WOOSH**
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It is a strange choice of location.
It would only be fair to ask for this to be tried in Palm Beach.
Re:Well (Score:4, Interesting)
None, because there's allegedly no duty to protect, and using AI is just an extension of this.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Plus it would most likely fail because someone calls 911 to order a pizza, because the AI thinks it's a prank call rather than an agent realizing that it's meant as a cryptic call for help. ...
Or even better - some police reports noted that one of the victims turned into a frog simply because it overheard a movie playing in the background. This could lead some criminals to make a single-button "prank call" playback device that plays various prank call recordings, and could make the AI think it's a child doing funny calls to the 911 operator.
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If you've ever been stuck talking to a clanker on the phone you have a pretty good idea how this is going to end up. The only relief will be that they'll have to hire the human operators back once the first few people die because of it, so be very, very careful with anything you're doing the first week or so after it's introduced so you're not one of the deaths.
Re:Well (Score:4, Informative)
>"Who is going to take the responsibility when someone dies as a result of this?"
Who takes responsibility when someone dies because all the lines are tied up for long periods with BS calls and duplicate calls for the same incident? Because that is what this new system is designed to try and fix. It is just triage.
I am not saying it will work, or that it is guaranteed to improve outcomes. That entirely depends on how it works and is implemented. But it doesn't sound like a horrible idea. So, although I am not a fan of AI answering 911 calls, it very well could be the lesser of two evils...
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You're probably missing the point. Think of the advertising potential.
How does it work (Score:2)
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The E911 system has included location data since... well since you don't know that, and you're on a website for nerds, since before you were born. If you were older, hackers getting arrested for "stealing" E911 related documents was kindof a big thing that everybody talked about. For various reasons.
There's a few books about it that nerds all read.
Mark my words today... (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Mark my words today... (Score:5, Interesting)
Dispatchers are usually the lowest paid employees next to lunch ladies. It's never been considered a critical service, collecting taxes and laundering the money is the primary mission.
Yet they are sometimes some of the more capable people around. Calmly getting the information needed by first responders, giving callers the most practical advice that can be offered from a telephone. The dispatcher I knew was former military, a communications specialist in a headquarters unit, connecting people in the field with command during combat.
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911 operators make above median wage in most states. In Louisiana, $45,373 compared to $31,138 median (individual). Median household is $60,756.
Re:Mark my words today... (Score:5, Insightful)
As always it's a big club and you ain't in it.
Re:Mark my words today... (Score:4, Informative)
That's why property taxes pay for schools, so rich neighborhoods have nice schools and poor ones have crappy schools. Schools in Benton Harbor, MI, haven't been painted in 20 years and some classrooms are unusable because of roof leaks. Three hours away the high school in Gross Pointe Shores has a heated swimming pool and they go on class trips to Europe.
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A lot of places are not like this. However, that means they are "socialist" and America is terrified of anywhere that does not treat poor people like shit!
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That's why property taxes pay for schools, so rich neighborhoods have nice schools and poor ones have crappy schools. Schools in Benton Harbor, MI, haven't been painted in 20 years and some classrooms are unusable because of roof leaks. Three hours away the high school in Gross Pointe Shores has a heated swimming pool and they go on class trips to Europe.
Um ... Michigan switched to using sales tax to finance schools decades ago. For that very reason.
Thanks for proving that it didn't work, lol. Gee, something else must be at work ...
Yeah no shit sales tax wouldn't work for that (Score:3)
The funny thing is guys like you are going to
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Ah, haven't lived in Michigan since the early '90s. Guess I'll have to use a different state for example now.
Re: Mark my words today... (Score:1)
In fairness, the rich call 911 less (Score:2)
If I had to guess they are probably going to structure this so that it targets poor neighborhoods who are less likely to have the resources to sue. You can do that by breaking up a city into subsidies or parishes or what not. Which is exactly why you see that so often. Rich people like to have the services of a large city but they don't like the pay for them because well you don't get rich paying for things you get rich making other people pay for things for you. So wealthy people will split their part of the city off so they don't have to pay taxes while enjoying the services of the rest of the city As always it's a big club and you ain't in it.
You're right, but....the wealthy typically call 911 less. They're less likely to be victims of crime. They're more likely to keep up on routine checkup and take their medication to find chronic problems early. They tend to drop dead at a much later age....plus, being poor really sucks and is one of the most stressful experiences a human can go through....it definitely takes a toll on you physically, so you are more likely to drop dead.
How many health studies have simply been a proxy for wealth and th
Fucking Clankers Are Gonna Kill Us (Score:2)
Whomever came up with this idea needs to be flogged.
Re:Fucking Clankers Are Gonna Kill Us (Score:4)
You are too kind.
Likely an improvement (Score:3, Informative)
As someone who once had to call 911 in New Orleans, handing it over to AI would likely be an improvement.
Re: Likely an improvement (Score:1)
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As someone who once had to call 911 in New Orleans, handing it over to AI would likely be an improvement.
Came here to say that. It only has to be better than the average human who was actually doing it before ...
Oh goody (Score:5, Interesting)
We NEED AI! (Score:3)
We need AI to handle the increased volume of calls caused by more extreme weather events caused by massive energy consumption caused by AI data centers...
Obligatory (Score:3)
What could possibly go wrong?
What the fuckity fuck fuck fuck (Score:2)
I am so sick and fucking tired of stupid people letting stupid shit happen because they're stupid. If people would pay attention to voting and stop worrying about trans girls in sports or whatever nonsense you are currently being distr
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Thinking this is going to get New Orleans local officials in trouble is a little naive, as the tales of corruption in that town are truly epic.
This is a town where drinking in public is encouraged, as is women showing their titties in exchange for beads. It's a deeply weird place to live and the residents all understand that.
I wouldn't have actually been surprised to hear that NO doesn't have any human 911 operators even *before* AI.
Re: What the fuckity fuck fuck fuck (Score:1)
It's New Orleans, bitches! (Score:1)
Well this is shit (Score:5, Interesting)
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I remember a few years ago a woman called 911 pretending that she was calling a pizza restaurant. The 911 operator picked up on that and sent some police cars to free the woman from her armed captor. Speech recognition systems are good, but I doubt they'll ever pick up on a situation like that.
Are you crazy? The AI will easily pick up on that.
Make delicious homemade pizza using simple dough made from flour, warm water, yeast, sugar, salt, and olive oil. Top it with crushed tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, and your favorite toppings, then bake it hot until crispy.
Classic Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients:
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Instructions: Mix warm water, sugar, and yeast. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until bubbly.Add flour, olive oil, and salt. Stir until a dough forms.Knead by hand for 5 to 10 minutes until smooth.Let the dough rise in an oiled bowl for 1 to 2 hours (or overnight in the fridge for best flavor). Stretch the dough, add your sauce and toppings, and bake at your oven's highest setting (around 450F to 500F) for 10 to 15 minutes.
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I'm having difficulty imagining an "armed captor" being OK with his kidnapee being on the phone for any reason, even if it's to order triple pepperoni.
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I'd almost forgotten about that, but yeah - the audio of the call got posted and it was a very impressive example of human connection and intuition working incredibly well in a high-stakes situation. I dug up a link to the audio [nbcnews.com], it's very instructive.
Using a machine to sort a list in priority order (triage) might be very handy after all the facts are in, but being able to accurately determine what's going on in a real-world emergency when the person reporting it might be panicked, incoherent, or under dure
what... could... possibly... go... wrong ? (Score:1)
prepare for massive lawsuits
That will kill people (Score:4, Interesting)
Case from the UK some while ago: Nurse called calmly for her husband having a heart attack. System detected calm and put her on hold. Husband died.
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You mean they are trying to make healthcare cheaper? Well, death is relatively cheap...
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Re: That will kill people (Score:1)
KPIs (Score:3)
It would be interesting to see how this decision came about.
Was the decision maker measured on the amount of cost cutting they could achieve, but not measured on lives lost?
That's the thing with KPIs, sometimes the difficult-to-measure aspects of a job are quite important.
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It was the money. The money that greased palms, that is.
TV Show (Score:2)
Gues they didn't watch the 9-1-1 TV show where they *do* test AI. Machine has the caller do a tourniquet on his own neck. Yup, AI for 911 dispatching is gonna go so well... I wouldn't even trust AI for a banana cake recipe, putting that in charge of emergency calls? nope. Someone *WILL* die.
Kiss those solid jobs everywhere goodbye (Score:2)
Human Services without the humans will cost us all one way or another. Whats good for the bottom line is usually costly to individual families everywhere. Eventually we adapt to the change, but its gonna take time to replace every solid job we elimininate. Instead of expanding military, police and prisons lets pay for schools, hospitals, and day care. Lets pay for carrots instead of sticks.
1000 calls per day? (Score:2)
1000 calls per day in a population of 450,000 people. Iâ(TM)d start by having the AI work on reducing the number of non-emergency calls.
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1000 calls per day in a population of 450,000 people. Iâ(TM)d start by having the AI work on reducing the number of non-emergency calls.
As TFA says, a lot of the 311 calls are for information (and not asking for emergency assistance for a critical issue). There have been reports of people calling 911 (or 311) to ask if their boyfriend is married, or because McDonald's ran out of Chicken McNuggets. Perhaps the municipalities should charge for non-emergency stupid calls based on the cost of answering such questions, but, well, that has it's own issues.
Hmmm (Score:1)
Re: Hmmm (Score:1)
Confusing humans with AI (Score:4, Insightful)
this is bad but what's the alternative (Score:2)
Ok the comments are full of all the predictable responses: this will kill people, this will only be used on answering calls from poor districts, rich people get good stuff, etc.
Great, now that you've gotten your political wiggles out WHAT'S YOUR SOLUTION?
Is it actually better that someone waits on HOLD with a 911 call so they can speak exclusively with a human?
Because "just hire more people" doesn't work.
Setting aside the cost, there's a 20-50% vacancy rate in 911 dispatch positions nationwide, 30% first ye
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Luckily there's a huge pool of federal money - which could easily grow with proper taxation. The problem is the people controlling it are ideologically opposed to doing anything useful with it.
You don't get 911 operators because it's more important to blow up ambulances in Palestine.
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So we should tax YOU more, then? You know that you can voluntarily pay more in taxes, right?
real value (Score:2)
The real value of human 911 operators is that they can figure out what is actually going on without being explicitly told. The real problem with human 911 operators is that they are dismissive, nonresponsive, or just plain callous, or get mad at the person calling 911 for weird ego reasons.
Lead poisioning (Score:2)
This must be what happens when people are exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water.