New Orleans deploys AI to triage 911 emergency calls

New Orleans has become the first major city in the United States to deploy artificial intelligence to handle 911 emergency calls. The technology, known as AI Emergency Call Triage, follows a successful pilot program using AI to manage the city's 311 non-emergency hotline.

The system is designed to assist the Orleans Parish Communication District, one of the nation's busiest 911 centers, by screening calls during high-volume incidents such as major accidents. When multiple callers report the same event, the AI can answer, provide information based on previous human-led calls, and filter out redundant reports. This is intended to free up human dispatchers to focus on urgent calls that require direct human intervention.

Orleans Parish Communication District Executive Director Karl Fasold stated the system is not intended to replace human dispatchers. However, the deployment has met with criticism from some first responders. Skeptics argue that AI may struggle to interpret callers with strong accents, those in distress, or individuals using coded language in sensitive situations like domestic violence calls, potentially leading to fatal delays.