Most Australians support AI in Triple Zero responses

A majority of residents across Australia and New Zealand support the use of AI in emergency call responses, according to research commissioned by Motorola Solutions.

The study from market research firm Researchscape consulted more than 2500 residents across the two countries. The research found that 58% of respondents support the use of AI to detect important keywords during emergency calls, such as ‘knife’ or ‘collision’, to accelerate emergency response.

Nearly as many (55%) support the use of AI to rank calls by urgency, with 52% also supporting using AI for completing live translations of emergency calls spoken in foreign languages and identifying safety threats within live video footage. But the research also found that only 22% of respondents were aware that AI is being used or developed for emergency call handling. Furthermore, only 42% would fully trust the use of AI for this task, with 23% trusting a little and 19% not at all. Those aware of AI usage were three times more likely to trust it (56% compared to 19%).

The research also found that 86% of respondents are comfortable sharing exact location data with Triple Zero operators, 75% with sharing personal information about medical conditions or allergies, and 54% with wearable health data from smartwatches and similar devices. But there is a gap between respondents’ willingness to share this information and their confidence that emergency services are capable of receiving and using the data to improve emergency response.

Meanwhile, although phone calls remain the preferred way to contact emergency services (88%), respondents named SMS/text messaging (41%), smartphone apps (38%) and video calls (15%) as their main preferred alternatives. These preferred methods vary across generations, with older residents preferring voice calls (95%) and a significant minority of milennials (35%) preferring smartphone apps for their ability to upload media-rich data streams.

The report overall found clear public sentiment for modernising emergency call handling services to keep pace with technological developments, according to Motorola Solutions MD Con Balaskas.

“In an era where we can track the arrival of rideshare services and use AI to deliver faster insights and improve our decision-making, it’s not surprising that the public wants to see their emergency services make use of these innovations to help keep our communities safer,” he said. “These findings provide valuable insights to help public safety agencies align their technology modernisation strategies with community needs and expectations, fostering stronger collaboration, better emergency management and a pathway to a safer future.”

National Emergency Communications Working Group Executive Chair Craig Anderson added that the need to modernise emergency call handling technology has never been greater.

“These research findings show that communities expect emergency services to keep pace with rapid technology change, as well as clear generational shifts among younger users to provide more ways to contact emergency services in addition to voice calls,” he said.

Image credit: iStock.com/Chalabala