The University of Florida, in partnership with government agencies, has showcased an artificial intelligence-driven disaster warning system leveraging radio waves — a program Florida Department of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said is guaranteed to save lives.
BEACON, the Broadcast Emergency Alerting and Communications Operation Network, is a public-private partnership between UF, Guthrie’s agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Futuri Media, designed to localize and expedite information disseminated during disasters.
“I guarantee you, sometime over the next decades, that we will save lives,” Guthrie.
The first station broadcasting the AI text-to-speech information is at WUFT, an outlet operated by the UF College of Journalism and Communications.
“BEACON combines new technology with the reliability and power of broadcast radio to deliver messages directly to the communities that need them the most through AM radio, FM HD channels, and the BEACON mobile app,” Guthrie said.
The program pulls public safety information from county emergency management offices, state emergency management organizations, and other government sources. It prioritizes and delivers messages by geographic location through public broadcasts and on a smartphone app.
The program partners shared the details Wednesday in Gainesville.
Reliability
“What makes BEACON so unique is that we’ve engineered a way to marry the reliability of broadcast with the immense power of artificial intelligence and the lifesaving information and efforts of emergency management,” said Daniel Anstandig, CEO of Futuri Media, an AI and public safety company.
More than 4,000 messages were tested during hurricanes Helene and Milton, Guthrie said — a test run he pronounced a success.
“Why do we use radio? Radio is a thing of the past,” Guthrie–a former emergency management director in Flagler County–said, addressing potential concerns about the technology. “In the state of Florida, we have never lost a radio broadcast tower with all of the storms that have hit here. It’s always been on. It’s always been there.”
Counties will receive training on the new system, which aims to eliminate some of the human interactions required to put out emergency messages. Eliminating steps in the process can cut delivery time from hours down to minutes, Guthrie said.
Three hurricanes made landfall in Florida in 2024, with Hurricane Debby landing near Steinhatchee in August as a Category 1, Hurricane Helene near Perry in September as a Category 4, and Hurricane Milton near Siesta Key in October as a Category 3.
Craig Fugate, a former FEMA administrator under former President Barack Obama who held Guthrie’s job in Florida under former Gov. Jeb Bush, said one of the strengths of BEACON is that it lacks the character limits of wireless emergency alerts. BEACON could explain warnings issued by emergency management officials, such to boil water or how to safely shelter.
“As we saw in too many cases, even when warnings were issued, unless people understood what it meant to them and acted, it didn’t change the outcome. Beacon gives us a chance to start changing that outcome,” Fugate said.
–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
The best thing about AI is the lack of any human accountability, can’t wait to see how many people this kills and who shrugs over it