Multilingual weather alerts in the US: AI is lagging behind

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has expressed concern about delays in implementing an AI-powered automatic translation system for weather alerts from the National Weather Service (NWS).

According to the GAO, the lack of an updated plan and clear policies risks compromising the NWS's ability to effectively communicate the risks associated with extreme weather events to people who do not have a good command of the English language. This could have serious consequences for public safety, especially in areas with a high density of non-English speaking population.

The GAO has therefore urged the NWS to provide a detailed plan for the AI translation project as soon as possible, in order to ensure that weather alerts are accessible to everyone, regardless of their language proficiency.

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