How AI-driven emergency alerts saved lives during Kerala floods
During the recent Kerala floods, AI-driven emergency alerts helped save more than five lakh lives, according to Minister of State for Communications Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar at the International AI Summit this week.
The Department of Telecommunications used its Cell Broadcast System to send out warnings—no internet needed—working closely with the weather and disaster management teams for fast, wide-reaching updates.
AI's impact on scams and potential risks
AI isn't just about disaster alerts—it's also stopped 4.8 million scams and saved ₹140 crore through a fraud detection tool.
But Dr. Pemmasani pointed out that AI comes with real risks too: deepfakes threaten democracy, job automation could impact up to 30% of IT and manufacturing roles by 2030, and there are still big issues like biased facial recognition and healthcare misdiagnoses.