ASU, DEMA to work together on AI-enhanced emergency management system for Arizona

The Arizona Board of Regents has approved a grant that aims to improve the future of disaster response in the state.

AI experts at Arizona State University will work together with experts in emergency management decision-making at the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA) to create an AI-enhanced emergency management system.

DEMA's director, Maj. Gen. Kerry Muehlenbeck, is leading the effort. She said the idea is that AI will help her department quickly analyze massive amounts of data and predict the effects of a disaster so they can decide where to send resources.

“What we’re trying to do is do some modeling to look at different patterns of previous emergency situations, to create visualization models, so that I don’t have to look at data. The brain tends to respond better to models and pictures," Muehlenbeck said. "So it allows you to see on a large graphical display just inordinate amounts of information with one screen so that you almost intuitively now know where to send resources."

The partnership has a three-year timeline built on three distinct phases.

Year one will focus on emergency information analytics and root cause analysis. Year two will concentrate on disaster prediction, including second- and third-order effects. The final year will prioritize developing optimal, explainable courses of action. To accelerate the development process, ASU’s team will provide major software releases to DEMA in six-month intervals and regular releases every three months.

“AI will help me do quicker damage assessment," Muehlenbeck said. "It will tell me what is broken, what is likely to get broken. ... So it will give me some courses of action."