Using A.I. to Help Humanitarian Causes

Over 40,000 people are currently separated from their families by natural disasters, with that number rising every year. Charities such as the Red Cross are trying to reunite families.

Red Cross have photographed thousands of survivors and put them on their website for refugees to look through and find their loved ones. But checking thousands of photos one at a time is slow. Every hour spent searching means more stress and risk for vulnerable refugees in camps. The search is often slowest for refugees in the worst conditions, who have unstable internet, have to share computers, or can’t afford the mobile data to load thousands of photos. The longer the search, the worse the mental health of refugees.

Call for Code 2019 runners up Project Reunite used AI to help alleviate some of the pain and help speed up aid efforts when needed the most. By using AI algorithms to classify, identify and prioritise images of lost loved ones in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Project Reunite are able to drastically reduce the time it takes to find someone.

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