Google will provide AI to the military for disaster response

SAN FRANCISCO — Google on Wednesday said it is providing artificial intelligence tools to help the National Guard analyze images of disaster areas so it can respond to them faster and more effectively.

Bellwether, a new group inside “X,” the innovation lab that is part of Google’s parent company Alphabet, has developed tech that can ingest photos taken at an angle by airplanes, compare them with satellite imagery and maps, and automatically identify locations, roads, buildings and other important infrastructure. Bellwether has been testing the tech with the National Guard, which will deploy it in time for the summer wildfire season, said Nirav Patel, a program manager with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a Pentagon unit that helps the military integrate commercial technology and that helped organize the partnership.