How AI is helping groups in conflict zones where they’re seeking to bring peace

Artificial intelligence isn’t just being used to wage war, it’s also being used to try and end it, and to find the people caught in the middle.

While militaries around the world are deploying AI on the battlefield, organizations such as the Red Cross and peace-focused tech companies are using the same tools to try to protect civilians, reunite families and help broker ceasefires.

Laura Walker McDonald, technologist with the Red Cross, said the organization uses AI to identify targets, the same way some militaries do. But in the Red Cross’s case, those “targets” are people who need help.

“So we can understand where people might need assistance or where people are even,” Walker McDonald said.

The Red Cross also uses drone technology. Walker McDonald pointed to a major earthquake in Nepal years ago, when damaged roads made it nearly impossible to reach remote villages.

“You could fly a drone out there, and it would be able to send back imagery and tell you what had happened so you could get help to people,” she said.

But drones used in conflict zones can backfire for aid agencies such as the Red Cross, since the sound alone can trigger fear in people who’ve recently been attacked.

“When you hear it, you think, ‘I have to hide, because I don’t know what’s going to happen,'” Walker McDonald said. “Whether they’re looking for people and will come back, or whether the drone itself is armed makes you feel stressed.”

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