New Way Now: IRC Signpost project uses AI to ensure access to vital information in times of crisis
14๐ฆ๐๐บ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐: Andre Heller works at the International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian and a refugee resettlement organization focused on crisis and emergency response. Heller is the director of the Signpost project โ the worldโs largest access-to-information initiative, operating in 30 countries.
๐๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ: Increased armed conflicts, climate disasters, and economic hardship force millions to make life-changing decisions with limited information. Aid organizations are overwhelmed by information requests, and need solutions to stretch their limited resources further.
๐ฆ๐ผ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป: IRCโs Signpost has developed an AI-powered public infrastructure for humanitarian response, designed to deliver real-time, critical, and life-saving information, streamline content management, and enhance data handling for those affected by disasters, armed conflicts, and other forms of exclusion. The AI system draws on Signpostโs extensive knowledge base with the aim of providing comprehensive, accurate, and contextually relevant responses. This empowers other humanitarian organizations to create their own multilingual virtual agents, enabling them to deliver critical information efficiently and cost-effectively.
๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐๐: The Signpost project not only enhances the quality of support by enabling more personalized engagement with individuals who have sensitive questions and complex needs, but it also ensures that the infrastructure can scale to reach millions worldwide. In the short term, IRC aims to support 100,000 people annually, with a long-term goal of reaching over 3 million people each year.
Key takeaways and highlights from our interview with Andre Heller, director of the Signpost Project at the International Rescue Committee:
โ โWithout AI, we would be doing things the old way and incurring the costs and the limitations that we have previously faced.โ
โ โWe're using generative AI to get the most benefit for our workers and for our clients. People are really pleased to be able to offload really arduous repetitive tasks to a computer.โ
โ โAI helps us imagine a future state where everyone in the world has access to the critical information they need if a crisis strikes.โ
๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ด๐น๐ฒ ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฑ๐๐ฐ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ: Gemini, Vertex AI, Cloud Translation API
๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ป ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ:
โ AI For Social Good ebook: https://goo.gle/gen-ai-for-social-goodhttps://goo.gle/gen-ai-for-social-good