111
New Orleans will use AI to answer 911 calls instead of a human
(www.shreveporttimes.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2026
111 points (97.4% liked)
A Boring Dystopia
17653 readers
4 users here now
Pictures, Videos, Articles showing just how boring it is to live in a dystopic society, or with signs of a dystopic society.
Rules (Subject to Change)
--Be a Decent Human Being
--Posting news articles: include the source name and exact title from article in your post title
--If a picture is just a screenshot of an article, link the article
--If a video's content isn't clear from title, write a short summary so people know what it's about.
--Posts must have something to do with the topic
--Zero tolerance for Racism/Sexism/Ableism/etc.
--No NSFW content
--Abide by the rules of lemmy.world
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
It seems like there could be good potential implementation of AI into the overall system but nothing is more satisfying to administrators than firing people, so that's how its success will be judged.
There is no potential good in putting any obstacle whatsoever between someone experiencing an emergency and a trained human being who can directly get help.
I don't believe they are suggesting such. The concept of AI as a helpful tool for people trying to complete a task is still valid. Most good work includes repetitive, tedious tasks and AI can potentially automate some of that away.
I believe the problem is that, first and foremost, we're attempting to throw all of the world's knowledge into a black box and power it with all of the worlds resources while praying that it will result in genuine General Superintelligence. Its reckless, destructive, wasteful, and naive.
Second, most of those in power see it as a replacement for those workers and as an avenue for cost reduction. Middle management that is deluded into believing that they are the reason everything gets done. Narcissistic executives who think their "genius" is the key to their company's success. If those pesky workers beneath them would just sacrifice literally everything for their bosses and literally obey their boss's every command, including commands like "just do it faster" everything would be perfect... they believe. The false promises of AI replacing labor gets them rock fucking hard.
Wait, you're suggesting that the higher up on the corporate ladder, the less they understand how the company works?
I definitely haven't seen that in my corporation. /s
There is though. High profile events cause high volumes of 911 calls. If AI can be used correctly, perhaps even with Geo data, callers likely calling about the same event 400 others are calling about at the same time can get an informational "we know, thank you. But press 1 to talk to a human if still needed". This allows the humans to help Grandpa having a heart attack across town instead of speed answering dozens of calls about the same fender Bender on the interstate during rush hour.
Just my opinion. Thanks for listening.
Not everyone in an emergency has the ability to press 1. Implementing something which requires them to do so sacrifices those people, and I find that unacceptable.
There's a simple answer, and that's engaging sufficient human staff to handle emergencies.
Also, human resources cost money and 911 centers already struggle financially. People don't want more taxes, and that's how more staff and equipment is funded
On top of that, there's a nationwide 911 staffing crisis.
It's not an easy solution, and ai is a tool that can help.
I hear you, but imagine the alternative where it takes many tries dialing 911 to reach a human or you never do because the system is overloaded
Trust me when I tell you that is exactly what is happening today. If you can dial 911 you can press 1, hopefully.
More info for you showing it may not be so simple
https://www.iaedjournal.org/combating-the-911-staffing-crisis
https://www.911.gov/newsletters/issue-14/survey-more-than-half-of-911-centers-face-staffing-crisis/
https://www.reddit.com/r/911dispatchers/comments/1iqdzn0/emergency_staffing_crisis/
https://www.nena.org/news/669810/Survey-Reveals-Urgent-Challenges-in-9-1-1-Centers-Amid-Staffing-Shortages--Technological-Gaps.htm
And on and on and on.
The more I think about this idea of AI use by New Orleans the more sense it makes. As long as it's a human asking the emergency protocol questions and dispatching first responders, falling back to tech for filtering overwhelming call volume during large incidents is a good idea.