Researchers looking into AI to help detect natural disasters in Arizona

PHOENIX (AZFamily) —The Department of Emergency and Military Affairs is working with ASU researchers to develop a new emergency management system enhanced by artificial intelligence.

Funded by the Arizona Board of Regents, DEMA is excited to explore this new AI-enhanced model because, as emergency management director Gabe Lavine said, it’ll help predict and locate potential threats and better provide aid for future disasters.

“We view it as a compass not a GPS,” Lavine said. “that’s not how we use data in emergency management recognizing that community systems in general are so incredibly complex. It will guide us like a compass in the right direction towards positive outcomes that we want.”

According to DEMA, planning for any kind of natural disaster or crisis takes a lot of data researching and collecting. Data from previous disasters is crucial for preventative and recovery planning. However, Lavine said that it takes a lot of manpower and time.

With AI’s ability to obtain years of data and research, Lavine said this will improve response times because his team will have access to immediate and more detailed predictive disaster models.

“It allows us to make more informed decisions and with the rapidly changing environments. We’re expected to make decisions without complete pictures, and this is one way to make the picture a little more focused and a little more complete.”

DEMA said the AI-enhanced model will not replace any jobs in the department but rather assist in data research so there can be extra helping hands for other disaster planning duties.

DEMA and ASU are working on the AI Emergency Management System in three phases and hope to use it in the next couple of years.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.