AI System Aims To Transform 911 Response In Snohomish County

How is the adoption of AI going to enhance or Detract from my phone experience? I don't know about you, but I really dislike going through “phone trees” when I make a phone call. You know the process, “If you're speaking in English, press 1, If you want to ask about your bill, press 3, If you want to throw your phone across the room, press star*.” 

It's already happening.

Will the adoption of AI fix this? Well, we're about to find out because of this new development in Snohomish County. 

According to axios.com,
‘A Washington State county, just north of Seattle and one of the state's fastest-growing regions, is getting a new artificial intelligence-powered system to help with emergency 911 calls. It's one of the first efforts to use AI to help with 911 emergencies in real time and could be a model for other regions as police expand AI to aid with patrols, investigations and first responders.’ 

911 in Snohomish County, also known as Sno911, is launching AI assisted 911 service. The county is partnering with Aurelian, A Seattle based AI startup to provide the software technology. Sno911 already uses an Aurelian AI system called “Ava” to triage incoming calls and redirect non-emergency 911 calls. 

The new system will now provide an onscreen AI system called Cora that will listen in on the caller and the dispatcher and provide real time questions on the screen for the dispatcher to ask and phone numbers that the dispatcher can provide to the caller. 

Are dispatcher's being replaced?

The idea is not to replace the dispatchers but to make them more efficient. With over 40 different county agencies, having Cora provides suggestions on which agency to contact is helpful and saves time. 

Being a 911 dispatcher is an extremely stressful job. Anything that can be done to make it less stressful and more helpful is always an improvement.