Partnership Between the Feds and Microsoft to Develop AI Response Tools

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office announced this week the formation of the First Five Consortium, which will develop and use artificial intelligence (AI) tools for disaster management. The First Five is a partnership with DOE, and Microsoft to improve disaster response, including wildfire prediction, search and rescue, flood control, damage assessments and natural disaster response. "The First Five was formed to bring the best resources from industry, nonprofit and the public sector to use technology to address the need to mitigate the impact of natural disasters while protecting property and lives," said Jermon Bafaty, a White House fellow with DOE, in a conference call. "When you look at 2019, there were 14 disasters that were individually more than a billion [dollars] in damages each," Bafaty said. "As a public-private partnership, we need to be able to pull together the best ideas and understandings to put together the right solutions that we think we'll be able to scale to save lives."