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Comment on New Orleans is using AI to triage 911 calls in case of backlog

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The assumption that because something is important and the consequences are dire when it fails, infinite resources should be allocated is simply wrong. At some point 911 calls will be backlogged. What to do then? Maybe AI triage is the best of the worst options.

Was New Orleans "investing infinite resources" before? It seems like as always the pitch here is you fire a bunch of existing 911 operators and split the projected cost savings with an AI company.

It's also highly likely that the cost savings projections are optimistic and they will be back at the table a year from now saying that the only way to realize the projected savings is to divert more calls to the AI and further reduce staffing.

The assumption is more that, given tools to automate the “less important” parts of important processes, this starts a slippery slope where capitalism will squeeze as many humans as possible out of the job to reduce costs because the “AI is good enough.”

Until, of course, it isn’t - but at that point, the budget is reallocated, there’s no funding, there’s simply nothing we can do except continue to pay this AI contract.

Problem is always handling bias and preventing human abuse, specially in law enforcement tools.

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