AI and the Future of Emergency Alerts

Los Angeles officials have been dealing with unprecedented communications challenges during the wildfires sweeping Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and other nearby cities. The alerting experience for citizens and government officials has proven flawed and questions the status quo. In this modern era, it’s time to embrace technology to help solve these issues to ensure accurate, real-time information reaches the public as crises unfold. Read the full article as to why your state, city, and agency needs to rethink how alerting is delivered and why we can no longer rely on press conferences and websites to deliver life-saving messages to the public in their native language, in real-time.

This article was originally featured in Inside Radio:

Multiple issues were uncovered in the Southern California emergency communication infrastructure this week. The whole country needs to stand up and pay attention. When disasters occur, reliable, real-time communication is a matter of life and death.

Last week in L.A.: Widespread erroneous alerts, recurring false alarms, system malfunctions, delayed corrections, inconsistent message delivery, and failure to identify root causes of these issues. Public officials in the L.A. press conferences, who should have been leading with critical firefight updates and needed recovery information, were embarrassingly apologizing for alerting system failures. Citizens in crisis were asked to go to a website to find vital information. In the most tech-sophisticated country in the world, we deserve better.

Today’s emergency alert systems do a good job of providing just-in-time, short bursts of information. What’s missing is a resilient system that shares detailed, real-time, official emergency information and thorough preparedness and recovery instructions.

In 2024, the state of Florida, at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), and the University of Florida partnered with Futuri to develop and stress-test a groundbreaking AI-powered emergency alert and communications system. BEACON is a public safety tool that combines AI with traditional broadcast technology to deliver round-the-clock, localized crisis communications via radio, television, streaming, and mobile platforms.

FDEM’s Director, Kevin Guthrie, believed Florida needed to be more proactive with its communications in preparing and protecting Floridians during hurricane season. The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications’ Randy Wright identified an opportunity to better disseminate emergency officials’ information and worked with Futuri. See the FDEM, UF, Futuri BEACON announcement press conference HERE.

In the last 90 days, Hurricane Milton, a Category 3 storm, made landfall near Siesta Key, FL, bringing historic high winds, storm surges and tornadoes. More than 3 million Florida residents lost power. Just one month earlier, with a death toll in the hundreds and damages estimated to be more than $30 billion, Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Florida Panhandle. As extreme events like what’s unfolding in Southern California and the recent Milton and Helene hurricanes increase in strength and frequency, millions of people will face disaster scenarios cutting them off from vital information when they need it most.

The Resilience of Broadcast Radio and TV in Disaster Situations

When disaster strikes, mobile networks and the internet are often the first to fail. Hurricanes, wildfires, and floods all too often interrupt or take down cell towers and internet service, leaving millions without access to essential information. During 2017’s Hurricane Maria, over 95% of cell towers in Puerto Rico were knocked offline. Similarly, in the wake of Hurricane Michael in 2018, 20% of all cell sites across the impacted regions went down.

In contrast, broadcast radio and television remain highly resilient during such events. Thanks to hardened, geographically dispersed infrastructure, back-up generators and well-trained dedicated staff, studies show 90% of radio stations and 85% of television stations continue to operate during the most severe weather. Broadcast radio and television offer a reliable communication channel even when power, internet, and cellular systems fail.

FEMA’s National Public Warning System (NPWS) relies heavily on AM radio stations. Simply put, these stations have been specifically constructed to continue broadcasting during national emergencies, and that’s exactly what they do.

BEACON: Facilitating Communication During The “Disaster Information Gap”

Connecting our country’s hardened broadcast infrastructure, AI, and Starlink satellite technology, BEACON automatically captures and prioritizes 100% of emergency alerts from government sources (both state and local). These alerts are localized and translated automatically into multiple languages. In Florida, nearly 30% of households speak Spanish first. Across the U.S., English is the second language in over 25% of households.

Apart from typically only being delivered in one language, emergency alerts can be static, 240 characters, and lack real-time updates as conditions evolve. BEACON solves this problem by delivering continuous, real-time updates across multiple platforms (radio, TV, mobile apps, and streaming).

BEACON also provides proactive, easy-to-understand preparedness information during non-emergency times. From wildfire safety to hurricane preparedness, BEACON safety information is developed and curated by local safety officials, and then AI prioritizes it and gets it to the public immediately.

We must save lives. We must adopt AI for emergency communications.

During California’s Camp Fire in 2018, when communication systems failed, many in affected areas were left without timely evacuation orders. BEACON’s ability to deliver geo-targeted, real-time emergency alerts through radio and television would have ensured hardest-hit areas received immediate, life-saving instructions, even as internet and cell services failed.

While Florida is the first state to fully enact BEACON, Futuri is working with governors’ offices and emergency managers across the county to extend its life-saving footprint. As BEACON expands nationwide, it has the potential to reshape how we respond to disasters, ensuring communities are better informed and more prepared when the next crisis strikes.