There have been a lot of stories about Google’s various generative AI products, such as Circle to Search, its AI wallpaper tool, Search Generative Experience (SGE), and others. Recently, Google was able to accurately predict flooding up to seven days in advance thanks to machine learning (ML).
Google Uses AI to Forecast Floods Around the World
Engineers at Google have been using AI to improve how far in advance they can predict flooding globally. By training machine learning models, they were able to forecast some floods up to a full week before they occurred. This is a major improvement over typical flood warnings of only a few days.
Google’s AI Doesn’t Need Flood Sensors
Predicting floods can be hard because most rivers don’t have sensors to monitor water levels and rainfall. But Google’s AI figured out how to use all available river data, like from satellite images. It can then apply what it learned to rivers without sensors. This lets Google warn places about potential floods even without equipment in the water.
Google Accurately Predicts Floods in 80 Countries
So far, Google has successfully predicted floods in over 80 different nations around the world. They share the forecasts through Search, Maps, and phone notifications. Researchers were so impressed they published Google’s findings in the top science journal Nature. Clearly, AI is helping Google revolutionize global flood warning systems.
