Taiwan earmarks $94M to boost natural disaster capabilities with AI

Taiwan’s Cabinet has approved the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to manage a wide range of climatic disasters, with flooding earmarked as the primary use case for the emerging technology.

The executive arm of the government has set aside NT$3.09 billion (US$94 million) in building an AI-based system to detect flooding events hours before they materialize.

The program is expected to commence in 2025 and will run until 2029, garnering support from the country’s meteorological and first-responders services. The Executive Yuan, headed by Premier Cho Jung-tai, noted in an interview that the AI-based flood detection system will protect lives and billions of dollars in infrastructure upon its launch.

Details of the system are scarce, but sources indicate an integration with a raft of emerging technologies to build a world-class detection system. Apart from leaning on generative AI, the system will rely on fifth-generation telecom networks, pattern recognition and the Internet of Things (IoT).

A chunk of the budget for the system will be used to build 1,200 monitoring stations across Taiwan, with the Cabinet confirming the development of a mobile application for citizens. The mobile application is intended to serve as a first-responder communication tool while assisting in the coordination effort for disaster relief.

Taiwan’s Water Resources Agency says it will use the mobile application to issue early warnings to residents on impending flood events and sensitize the public to the jarring effects of climate change.

The project involves using a tailor-made AI tool to analyze data from over 2,000 flood detectors and nearly 10,000 cameras strategically positioned across residential areas in Taiwan. While investing heavily in identifying flood risks, the project also dedicates a significant sum toward combating flood events in real-time.

The flood prevention project comprises 19,500 flood barriers and nearly 2,000 water pumps that can be deployed to critical areas.

Upon launch, the project will be staffed by 1,477 volunteers and propped up by several dozen local flood management units. So far, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan says it is in talks with private sector players to roll out a joint disaster response to expand existing offerings to protect residents in the typhoon-prone region.

AI-based weather prediction gathers steam

Outside of workplace productivity, generative AI is finding new applications in weather forecasting, and several technology firms are rolling out their offerings.

Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) latest AI model, dubbed the Scalable Ensemble Envelope Diffusion Sampler (SEEDS), is said to outperform traditional weather prediction systems by a country mile, saving computational power and costs for users.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and IBM Research (NASDAQ: IBM) have since rolled out their joint offering, which can detect the slightest changes in atmospheric conditions. Countries prone to climate disasters, like Taiwan, China and India are the largest adopters of the technology, phasing out old systems and embracing AI-based systems.

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