Milton Keynes uses AI for terror threat

Milton Keynes is using artificial intelligence technology that will give the emergency services faster access to vital information in the event of a major disaster such as a terrorist attack.

Government and local authorities have been under pressure to improve crisis management since the 11 September 2001 terror attacks and these measures are being formalised in a Civil Contingencies Bill going through Parliament.

Milton Keynes has created on online Rapid Response Information Service (RRIS) that will initially allow the police, fire, ambulance and health services to share information more quickly.

Authorised emergency services will have access to the online database that uses artificial intelligence to answer queries no matter how the question is phrased by staff.

RRIS uses technology from Transversal that returns the appropriate responses from a knowledgebase of questions. Only questions that cannot be answered are forwarded to support staff and those responses are then added to the knowledgebase for future queries.

Password authorised access to less sensitive parts of the RRIS can easily be made available to other parties, including utility companies, press, and public.

Alastair Bartholomew, emergency planning manager at Milton Keynes Council, said in a statement that RRIS will greatly improve the ability to react to any civil contingency threats.

"At a time when the emergency services could find themselves on high alert at short notice, the RRIS provides a cutting edge technological solution that will positively impact key areas of their response. RRIS has revolutionised the way that we are able to capture and share information between the emergency services. We can now proactively plan for civil contingencies and quickly update these plans as an incident unfolds," he said.