Artificial intelligence is the branch of computer science concerned with making computers behave like humans. It is the study of ways in which machines can be made to have sufficient creative reasoning power to perform mental task. AI can be used in places where you have to take a decision and recommend solutions.

Google Flood Forecasting Initiative that aims to provide flood forecasts and warnings in developing countries like India. About 20% of fatalities worldwide from flooding occur in India

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Google flood forecasting initiative:

• This Flood Forecasting Initiative is Google’s effort to provide high accuracy, high resolution flood forecasting.
• It uses the Google’s machine learning (ML) expertise and our computational power as well as our access to various types of resources and data to substantially improve flood forecasting systems, their accuracy, their lead time and so on.
• Google partnered with the Central Water Commission and the two organizations agreed to share technical expertise and data to work on the predictions, with the Commission calling the collaboration a “milestone in flood management and in mitigating the flood losses.”
• Predicting events like earthquakes and floods means sorting through huge troves of complex data to uncover previously overlooked connections.

Unique features:

• Generating high resolution elevation maps:
  • Google has developed a method of generating elevation maps at 1 meter resolution, based solely on completely standard optical imagery and that allows you to do this anywhere in the world.
• Hydraulic modelling:
  • It is the modelling of how the water will behave when it moves across the floodplain, which areas it will go to, and which areas are going to be affected and which ones are going to be safe

Challenges:

• No detailed data:
  • The current modelling systems are only physics-based, and the data is not detailed enough, while Google is using a system that combines physics modelling plus AI learning, and combines that with elevation and satellite map data.
  • It is a region of unchartered waters which needs more precision and experimentation.
• Varying topographies:
  • The challenge of getting elevation maps is the major impediment currently.
  • India has a diverse relief and same model cannot be replicated across.
• High Cost:
  • There is also the challenge of computational complexity. If you want to have a high resolution model, it becomes incredibly computationally expensive.
  • Creation of artificial intelligence requires huge costs as they are very complex machines. Their repair and maintenance require huge costs.
  • They have software programs which need frequent up gradation to cater to the needs of the changing environment and the need for the machines to be smarter by the day.
• Technical Impediments:
  • Lack of trained personnel to make use of the technology is another impediment.
• No Replicating Humans:
  • Intelligence is believed to be a gift of nature. An ethical argument continues, whether human intelligence is to be replicated or not.
  • Machines do not have any emotions and moral values. They perform what is programmed and cannot make the judgment of right or wrong.
  • They cannot take decisions if they encounter a situation unfamiliar to them. They either perform incorrectly or breakdown in such situations.
  • Mastering human behaviour is tougher as that a vast majority of brain activities occur at a non-conscious level.

Way forward:

• For India to maximally benefit from the AI revolution, it must adopt a deliberate policy to drive AI innovation, adaptation, and proliferation in sectors beyond consumer goods and information technology services.
• Policymakers should make AI a critical component of the prime minister’s flagship Make in India, Skill India , Disaster management, socio-economic sectors like health and education.
• Policymakers should consider ways to encourage human-centered AI at work and to provide training and social welfare programs to ease the transition to what can be a more productive and humane workplace of the future.
• India must view AI as a critical element of its national security strategy and evaluate models of defense research in collaboration with the private sector and universities.

Conclusion:

                Although AI is always seen with suspicion of taking away jobs, creating a robot world. There is a necessity of AI in the cases such as flood forecasting, disaster management to help the State to perform better and reduce the risk to lives of man and material.