5 ways AI can help crisis response around the world

We live in turbulent times. The number of violent conflicts around the world is the highest since World War Two. The frequency and intensity of climate disasters are on the rise. Our ability as an international community to respond to these challenges is being tested more than ever.

Rapid and targeted responses can save lives, reduce costs and shorten recovery times – allowing communities to return to normalcy sooner. Timely support can mean one less day in a refugee camp, without healthcare or facing the risk of abuse. The stakes are high.

Enter Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalization. Technology is transforming every sphere of work – and crisis response is no different. At the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), we are leveraging these tools to ensure faster and smarter support for people impacted by crisis.

As with other technologies, AI tools and applications are market-driven and shaped by the needs of the private sector. In the humanitarian and development sector, we are building on these gains and testing how AI can be leveraged in our business processes to make us more effective. More resources and expertise from the private sector can help expedite this process.

Here’s how the UNDP is using AI now and how we see it being deployed in crisis response in the future.

In the aftermath of a crisis, timely data on damage and impact is essential. The UNDP Crisis Bureau (CB) has developed Geographic Information System (GIS) tools that can provide quick insights into affected locations, populations, infrastructure, debris estimates and land use. Key components for planning rescue and recovery efforts.

Powered by AI, our Rapid Digital Assessment (RAPIDA) tool builds on Geographic Information System tools and leverages satellite imagery, social media and night-light data to share real-time insights after a crisis. After the Herat earthquake in Afghanistan, for example, the RAPIDA tool helped us narrow down affected locations for in-person assessments. This helped save time and get valuable data on hard-to-access, remote areas. We were able to get an estimate of damaged houses and tonnage of debris by adding information about building materials and the dimensions of structures.

In a crisis, getting the right personnel on the ground is also critical. UNDP’s deployment platform, powered by EVA.ai, is designed to match skilled personnel with needs on the ground. It considers expertise, availability, proximity to location, languages and experience of similar assignments. The EVA.ai platform can instantly identify the best-fit experts and confirm interest and availability.

This is a key need for an organization that has deployed more than 2,450 personnel through our roster this year. These experts provided support to over 150 UNDP offices, including in crisis contexts such as Syria, Ukraine and Barbados. To boost the strength of the roster, UNDP recently completed a global call that garnered more than 25,000 applications. For applicants, AI tools, like auto-filling, reduced application time to just 2.5 minutes.

Being crisis-ready as an organization demands continuous upskilling. UNDP’s Crisis Academy offers targeted training and learning opportunities to prepare UNDP’s crisis responders – mid-to-senior staff selected after a rigorous application process.

In addition to asynchronous online courses and live and in-person training, the Academy is testing technologies to improve learning experiences. In the recently held Quick Response Training in New York, we used augmented reality to create an immersive crisis simulation, enabling participants to assess the damage and impacts of a crisis virtually. Similarly, this tool can also be used to set up a virtual 'backpack' of key resources, like pre-deployment briefings, country snapshots and security and medical requirements. All the things that the crisis response staff need before they get on a flight for a mission.

Moving forward, our vision is to further customize learning with AI-powered modules, allowing personalized training that adapts to learner’s needs and expertise.

Seasoned crisis responders know the struggle of finding the right information while trying to put together a programme document under the pressure of a ticking clock. Across industries, key tasks, like resource mobilization, putting together project documents or donor communications, can be done more efficiently with the help of a digital assistant. The key here is to train the digital assistant accurately and appropriately.

For this, we have put together all our resources and tools, including new guidance notes and documents from crisis response efforts in Syria, Türkiye and other countries, to create a Crisis Response Hub. In addition to hosting key documents, the platform includes an AI chatbot to help access information quickly, as well as a co-pilot for support in preparing project documents and response strategies. The co-pilot is continuously getting better as we feed it more information. All this is being done in-house, which means it might take longer to reach industry standards for such a tool.

The UNDP is also investing in early warning systems, moving from reactive to proactive crisis management. Our Crisis Risk Dashboard combines historical and near real-time data with forward-looking risk forecasts to provide country offices with a centralized platform for monitoring, analyzing and visualizing risks. The dashboards leverage AI to clean, analyze and summarize data.

The tool is useful in predicting risks and identifying hotspots before they escalate and can be tailored to specific contexts and programme needs. In Sri Lanka, the Crisis Risk Dashboard is used to monitor hate speech, religious violence and macroeconomic issues, while in Ecuador, it tracks displacement and migration.

We want to turn this into a platform for action, where a critical risk of a crisis can automatically trigger the required corporate responses, including resources and deployment of personnel. With advancements in AI and access to better data, the Crisis Risk Dashboard can be a key early warning solution for the UN system.

For the UNDP and other organizations, embracing these technologies can lead to more efficiency in crisis response efforts. From real-time assessments to personalized learning and having a digital assistant on crisis missions, AI can become our co-pilot in building a resilient world.

We do recognize, however, that all new technologies come with risks. Currently, there are no global standards for AI use. We must establish guardrails to ensure ethical use and protect privacy. Challenges like bias, quality assurance and insufficient data must be addressed. Ultimately, human oversight remains essential.

The potential is immense. It is time to harness this tool safely and effectively or risk falling behind in our ability to help those who need it most.