As you know, when seconds count, the police are just minutes away. That, of course, requires you to set the process in motion by calling 911 to get the cops headed your way…which means someone has to be available to answer your call…something that’s not always a sure thing.
Staffing levels and call volume can throw a monkey wrench into that critical sequence of events. Now, in the dawning age of AI, the city of New Orleans is working on the first part of that equation, using a chatbot to make sure someone something is always available to take your call.
When calling 911 in New Orleans, AI may answer, and officials say it could be saving lives.
If you have an emergency in New Orleans and call 911, it comes through the Orleans Parish Communications District (OPCD), where it’s first come, first served.
“If somebody calls about a relative having a heart attack, when that call is coming in, we don’t know what it is. Calls get answered in the order that they’re received,” said Karl Fasold, executive director of the Orleans Parish Communications District.
Tensions at the OPCD can run high for the people taking the calls because they can pile up.
If someone is available, the call goes to them. If no one is available, you go to queue. You get frustrated because you’re in a queue waiting, and you want to talk to somebody, and it results in my personnel handling calls back-to-back-to-back. So, there’s increased stress levels on both sides,” said Fasold.
Yes. When someone is trying to kick in your door at 0300 and 911 puts you on hold, that tends to raise stress levels. Which is why the folks in Louisiana are using AI to take up the slack during call surges. The system is, in effect, doing triage to assess the urgency of the call.
Karl Fasold said the AI triage system frees up the human call takers to handle more urgent situations.
“They’re not going through all of the introductory information with you to find out that all you saw was two blue cars that were at the intersection and you think there’s been an accident. They’re instead handling what they signed on for: the true emergencies,” said Fasold.
They system, of course, isn’t perfect. It had difficulty during training with accents, intonation and inflection. The New Orleans folks say they’ve worked on that and ironed out the bugs. But with AI, other possibilities can come into play that might delay a response.
CALLER: There’s someone in my house. He has a gun. He said he’s going to kill me. Please send someone!
AI OPERATOR: I’m sorry, but I can’t participate in conversations involving threats, weapons, or graphic violence. If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, you should… https://t.co/fuNOLVEQfU
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) August 11, 2026
Yes, that’s cynical. Is it realistic? Who knows? We’ve seen lots in the last six-plus years that can make a cynic out of just about anyone.
We’re not Luddites. We’ve already seen AI be put to use in extraordinary ways and all the noisy blackpilling about it putting hordes of humans out of work seems to be overblown (fingers crossed).
Besides a 911 emergency response system wouldn’t have those kinds of limitations based on programmers’ and trainers’ biases and political proclivities built into it. Would it? Huh?
Some things never change. One immutable fact is that you are your own first responder. Always have been, always will be. Act accordingly.